Creation of Unique Rail and Truck Intermodal Facility
Our firm acted as counsel to the owner of a large industrial park in a series of unique transactions that created one of the first-ever non-railroad-owned intermodal facilities in the country, bringing together a mainline railroad, a national trucking carrier and the owner of the intermodal park. In a further attempt to increase rail traffic to the intermodal facility, our client entered into an agreement with the railroad to help finance the construction of a railroad turn-out 60 miles from the facility, which would allow unit trains that normally move north-south to move east-west to the client’s facility. Both projects involved the negotiation of novel agreements between the parties, as well as the attainment of state grants and low-interest loans to fund the projects. Kegler Brown was integral to the creation of the business strategy, as well as the many transactional documents required to complete the project.
Creation of Dual-Rail Industrial Park
The lawyers at Kegler Brown acted as counsel to a community-based private non-profit economic development organization to acquire land through a state grant for the purpose of creating an industrial park that could be served by two competing railroads. Since the land located in the “dual-rail park” could be served by either railroad, it gave industries locating there a competitive edge when negotiating for rail transportation. In addition, because the land was acquired by a state grant, the land was offered at attractive prices (or even free) to prospective companies as an incentive to locate in the community. As a result, the community was able to attract several new companies that served the just-in-time needs of the automotive industry and created hundreds of jobs in the process.
Exchange of Real Property Between U.S. Army and Private Industrial Park
Kegler Brown acted as counsel to a privately owned industrial park to acquire adjoining land from the U.S. Army through a federal exchange program in which the private party obligates itself to construct a facility at another government-owned facility and then exchanges the new facility for the property it actually desired to acquire, namely the adjoining U.S. Army-owned land. Our firm was integral to the negotiations, including navigating through the maze of government requirements for the exchange that included approval of Congress.
Industrial Plant Acquisition by Brazilian Manufacturer from Dow Chemical Co.
Our lawyers advised
Valfilm North America, Inc., a business unit of a large Brazilian packaging
company, on its acquisition of The Dow Chemical Company’s Findlay, Ohio,
polyolefin films plant. The transaction included elements related not only to
the physical real estate assets, but also to certain intellectual property,
strategic corporate tax planning, environmental implications and state tax
incentives. The highly publicized transaction, was covered by The
Wall Street Journal, Plastics
News, and Yahoo
Finance. Valfilm North America, Inc. is a part of the VALGROUP Packaging
Solutions family of companies, which specializes in developing, manufacturing
and marketing flexible packaging in polyethylene. The Dow Chemical Company
(NYSE: DOW) is one of the world’s largest producers of chemical products.
Cargominiums
Beginning in 2015, Kegler Brown
provided general counsel to Nothing Into Something Real Estate (NISRE), a
faith-based non-profit housing organization in central Ohio throughout the
complicated process leading up to the groundbreaking of their 25-unit housing
complex, Cargominiums. To create this affordable, sustainable and eco-friendly
apartment building constructed from repurposed shipping containers, NISRE
relied on the advice of Kegler Brown to resolve issues in zoning and real
estate, and securing and structuring finances.
NISRE’s Cargominiums are
scheduled to be completed in the spring of 2017 and will be Ohio’s first
residential building created from shipping containers. Kegler Brown will
continue to provide legal services throughout the construction process.