William R. Sylvester

William R. Sylvester, shareholder in the Birmingham office, has more than 30 years of experience in commercial real estate development, business and tax planning. He has counseled commercial real estate clients throughout the United States and is a frequent speaker on topics as diverse as the sale and purchase of real properties including "distressed assets," federal taxation of partnerships, choice of entity, commercial leasing, negotiation of partnership and limited liability company agreements, construction documentation, like-kind exchanges and all aspects of conservation easements. Mr. Sylvester has extensive experience in a wide variety of real estate-related transactions including the following:

• Multi-family residential developments
• Planned single family residential and golf developments
• Retail projects
• Hotel operation and development
• Conservation easements
• Brownfields and environmental remediation projects
• Natural resources exploration

Representative Experience

• Represented a client and worked with in-house attorney and CPAs to structure a qualified conservation easement, whereby over $30 million in deductions were taken on 2002 returns (the matter was tried before the Tax Court in 2009, and opinion was rendered on June 22, 2009 sustaining deductions in excess of $28.6 million). 
• Represent a client group involved in a variety of retail and office projects, as well as a mountaintop traditional neighborhood, planned around a golf course community.
• Represent a company in all aspects of its business operations with a primary focus on the ownership and management of golf courses. The client operates 11 golf courses which include designs by Jack Nicklaus, Arnold Palmer, Jerry Pate and Fred Couples. Represented this client in transactions related to the purchase, marketing and sale of residential communities adjacent to three of these golf courses.
• Represented an apartment holder, developer, builder and owner which owns 4,000 residential units in the southeast. Provided counsel regarding the sale of 2,500 apartment units, representing an aggregate value in excess of $160 million.
• Represented affiliated companies which presently own and manage 2,200 apartment units. Provided strategic advice and worked with the client to reduce the client's investment in CMBS-units. In late 2007 and 2008, two properties were sold for $67 million, with $47 million of CMBS debt assumed by the buyers.

Publications & Speaking Engagements

• Co-presenter – "The Agility Factor," Trends in Commercial Real Estate seminar co-sponsored by the Cumberland School of Law, Samford University and the Alabama State Bar Section of Real Property, Probate & Trust, Birmingham, Alabama, November 19, 2010
• Presenter – "E-Commerce in 2010 and Beyond," International Council of Shopping Centers Law Conference Roundtables, November 5, 2010
• Co-author – "Off Balance Sheet Financing, Via Real Estate 'Operating' Leases – Soon To Be A Thing Of The Past?" co-written with Murphy McMillan and Michael Evans, ABA Section of Real Property, Trust & Estate Law's bi-monthly eReport, October 19, 2010
• Co-presenter – "Easements and Other Servitudes - Obscure Topic, Critical Concepts," online ALI-ABA audio CLE program,  October 6, 2010
• Co-presenter – "Acquisition, Bankruptcy and Tax Considerations in Distressed Asset Purchases," TerraLex's International Real Estate Practice Group, Washington, D.C., October 2, 2010; Institute of Management Accountants, Birmingham, AL, September 28, 2010; American Bar Association Annual Meeting, San Francisco, CA, August 8, 2010
• Presenter – "Construction From the Owner's Perspective – 2010 and Beyond," Lorman Education Services, Birmingham, AL, August 19, 2010
• Co-presenter – "Fundamentals Of Commercial Leasing In A Depressed Economy," Turnaround Management Association, Louisiana Chapter, New Orleans, LA, May 19, 2010; American Bar Association, Real Property, Probate and Trust Section, Spring Symposia, Young Lawyers Institute, Philadelphia, PA, May 7, 2010  
• Co-presenter – "The Current Status, At The Beginning Of 2010, Of Land Conservation Issues," American College of Real Estate Lawyers, Mid-Year Meeting, Rancho Palos Verdes, CA, March 13, 2010
• Co-presenter – "Zen and the Art of Distressed Acquisitions," Alabama Chapter of the Certified Commercial Investment Members Institute, December 2, 2009
• "The Kiva Dunes Conservation Case," a web-supported interview with Bill Sylvester and Randy Zipse, Senior Counsel and VP, John Hancock Life Insurance, Advance Marketing Radio, released October 22, 2009
• "Kiva Dunes Revisited," a September 22, 2009 reprint, in Leimberg Services' LISI Charitable Planning Newsletter, No. 145, of an article first appearing in the July American College of Real Estate Lawyers Newsletter
• "AIA Contracts", Lorman Educational Services, September 2006-2009
• "Planning Validated in Recent Tax-Court Case Concerning Golf-Course Conservation Easement," ACREL News, Volume 27, No. 2, July 2009
• RRPT Spring Symposium, Washington D.C., "ROFOs and ROFRs – Avoiding the 'Do Loop,'" Real Property Leasing Group of the American Bar Association's Section of Real Property, Probate and Trust Law, April 27, 2006
• "Advanced Like-Kind Real Estate Exchanges," Lorman Educational Services, September 2004 – 2006
• Commercial Real Estate Seminar, Alabama Bar Institute for Continuing Education, 2001 – 2002, 2006
• "Federal Taxation of Partnerships," Lorman Educational Services, 2002 – 2004
• "Like Kind Real Estate Exchanges," Lorman Educational Services, 2001 – 2003
• "Strategies for Partnerships, S-Corporation and Closely Held Corporation Distributions," Lorman Educational Services, 2003
• "Commercial Lending Requirements and Loan Documentation," Lorman Educational Services, 2002

Professional Honors and Activities

• Member – American College of Real Estate Lawyers
• Listed in Alabama Super Lawyers since 2008 (Real Estate)
• Listed in Best Lawyers In America® since 1995 (Real Estate and Tax Law) 
• Listed in Chambers USA: America's Leading Business Lawyers since 2010
• Member – American Bar Association
• Real Property, Trust and Estate Law and Taxation Sections
• Forum on the Construction Industry
• Member – Birmingham Bar Association
• Member – International Council of Shopping Centers 
• Member – Land Trust Alliance 
• Member – Alabama State Bar - Real Estate Section
• President, 1998 – 1999

Admissions

• Alabama, 1978

Education

• University of Virginia School of Law, J.D., 1978
• Georgia Institute of Technology, M.S.O.R., 1976
• University of Alabama, B.S., 1975, cum laude, Phi Beta Kappa