Overview
For more than 20 years, Cox Castle has served as lead counsel for both land bankers and builders on well over 200 land bank financing transactions in more than 20 states, aggregating billions of dollars’ worth of value.
In the current cycle, the land banking industry has gained widespread popularity with public (and some private) homebuilders, many of which are gravitating toward a “land light” business model in which the builder does not hold legal title to land during the horizontal development stage of homebuilding. Instead, the homebuilder pays cash for an option to purchase land from a land banker with the objective of exercising its option on a rolling takedown basis when the builder is prepared to commence vertical construction on the improved lots. This trend has allowed some of the nation’s largest homebuilders to significantly increase their output. Our attorneys have played a crucial role in facilitating many of these transactions.
Through two economic cycles, we have played a significant role as counsel for our clients in the land bank arena. Our extensive experience includes structuring the transactions both as one-off deals and as part of larger portfolios, as well as advising land bankers on how to manage and/or dispose of assets when builders exercised early termination of these transactions during the last recession. Such experience has only enhanced our attorneys’ capabilities in this expanding industry and provided them with extensive knowledge of market terms and trends.