Real Estate Industry Group

SMPS Legal’s attorneys have extensive experience of representing developers, creditors and investors in all types of real-estate and asset transactions, including purchases, leasing agreements, funding, development, construction, and liens on-real estate assets such as offices, retail outlets, malls, manufacturing industries, mines, residential and multi-purpose properties, and hospitality establishments.

Our team members are key players in the hospitality sector, providing legal assistance for well-known hospitality projects in Mexico.

Our members have over 30 years of interdisciplinary experience in the industry. Exploiting our team’s strong business and legal capabilities, we provide solutions that mitigate risks at every stage of each transaction.

The services offered by SMPS Legal include the carrying out of audits and the provision of support in regulatory, tax and environmental matters, as well as the structuring of real-estate projects based on all types of modalities, including Real Estate Investment Trusts (In Spanish: “FIBRAs” or Fideicomisos Inmobiliarios de Bienes Raíces).

Our experts are recognized as key players in real estate law and for helping our clients in Mexico and the rest of Latin America to carry out complex operations.

At SMPS we have experience in the industrial sector, for the purchase, sale or lease of real estate, including the contracting of conditions for the construction of warehouses or manufacturing plants. We have advised clients in leasing real estate under gross leases (“Gross Leases” or Full Service”) or net leases (either Single Net, Double Net or Triple Net) or modified leases. In addition, we conduct real estate audits to confirm chains of title, the veracity of deeded and actual surfaces, feasibilities and permits for energy and water, including well concessions and land use licenses, as well as the disaffirmation of ejido land or special land tenure regimes.

Some reviews in the market…

“SMPS Legal offer a very strong service. Their help is invaluable because they are always there for us.”
By Chambers & Partners

“The attention we receive is exceptional. Personalised service and high attention to detail.”
By Legal500

“SMPS is at the forefront in this field and surpasses their competition.”
By Legal500

What the team is known for…

“SMPS Legal’s knowledgeable team boasts notable activity in the Mexican real estate domain. The legal division is recognised for its ability to handle the development and construction of industrial real estate sites. The practice group is adept at advising on the due diligence for real estate transactions, as well as the purchase and sale of residential projects. La Haus and Pesorama are among new client wins this year.”

Chambers Review

Our highlights

We advised Advised Arquitectomaand family office in the corporate restructure, development, US$250 million financing, and commercialization of a landmark 58-story building Chapultepec Uno located on Paseo de la Reforma, Mexico City. The building is one of the highest and most famous skyscrapers in Mexico City, consisting of 30,000 square meters of office space, 64 apartments and the first Ritz-Carlton hotel in Mexico.

Advised Cimbra Capital in the due diligence, negotiation and acquisition of an ownership interest in a high-end multi-purpose real estate development located in Tijuana, Mexico. Following the acquisition, Cimbra will carry out and develop the residential component of the project. The transaction was for US$20.0 million.

Advised Fortem Capital in the structuring of the CKDs (Investment Public Trusts) as well as on the underlying real estate projects. Fortem Capital issued a program of CKDs for a total amount of up to US$250 million to be invested in real estate properties for the development of commercial, residential, industrial and hospitality projects.

Advised Kocomo in the development and creation of the legal structure to sell fractions of luxury homes in tourist areas in Mexico through a digital platform, through the sale of memberships of a USA LLC. The value of the project was over US$60.0 million.

Advised La Haus in its negotiations with M2 Michan Inmobiliaria, a real estate developer, to invest in a residential development of an apartment building that would result in approximately 80 units, in Colonia Roma, one of the most sought-after neighborhoods in Mexico City.

advised APX Inmuebles in the due diligence, negotiation of land acquisition, financing process, tax legal structure, development, pre-sale and development of two real estate developments located in San Rafael and Condesa, Mexico City. Our advice included the negotiation of the structure to make the development and commercialization of the projects efficient, including a real estate trust to hold the underlying land.

Advised Pesorama Inc. in the negotiation of long-term lease agreements for 9 commercial facilities used for Pesorama stores in Mexico City under the “JOI” brand (7 with Fibra Uno and 2 with GDI developers).

Advised Operadora Meor in the negotiations for the acquisition of an 914 932 ft2 site in Ciudad Juarez, Mexico, one of the fastest growing cities in Mexico in the industrial sector due to nearshoring, where the company plans to develop more than 430,556 ft2. of warehouses to lease to AAA clients.

Advised Operadora Meor in the co-investment with GF5 Group to develop a 79.6 acres site to build, develop and lease industrial warehouses in Tijuana, Baja California, Mexico.

Advised Fondo Inmobiliario Meor in the acquisition, lease and financing for the development and construction of a 367,275 ft2 warehouse located in the Asia Pacific Park in Pesqueria, State of Nuevo Leon, to be developed and built by Meor and leased to a Mexican subsidiary of Korea Container Poo.

We advised Fondo Inmobiliario Meor in the preparation and review of its industrial warehouse lease agreements for distribution centers, as well as the negotiation with some of its tenants, including Cervecería Modelo.

Advised Grupo Stiva, S.A. de C.V. on the leasing of its industrial parks in Nuevo León.

Advised Curtiss Wright Controls in the leasing of its maquiladoras in Querétaro (Parque Industrial El Marqués) and Nogales, Sonora.

We advised Marhnos Inmobiliaria in the purchase and sale of a real estate portfolio consisting of eleven warehouses leased as distribution centers in favor of Grupo Bimbo, which was made to Meor.

We advised Mercado Libre in the negotiation of a lease agreement under the Triple N modality, for a 322,917 ft2 warehouse located in the O’Donnell Puente Mexico industrial park, in Cuautitlán, State of Mexico, to be developed and built by the lessor/developer O’Donnell Mexico, under Mercado Libre’s specifications and requirements.

We advised Mercado Libre in the negotiation of the lease agreement under the Triple N modality, for a 1,076,391 ft2 warehouse located in the industrial park Prologis Park Grande, in Tepotzotlán, State of Mexico, to be developed and built by the lessor/developer Prologis, under Mercado Libre’s specifications and requirements.

Advised Hasbro Mexico in the negotiation of a lease agreement under the Triple N modality, for a 408,382 ft2 warehouse located in the industrial park Prologis Park Grande, in Tepotzotlán, State of Mexico, to be developed and built by the lessor/developer Prologis, under the specifications and requirements of Hasbro Mexico.

We advised Vidrio Formas in the purchase of a 384,271 ft2 property for the construction and operation of a glass container manufacturing plant, located in the Lerma Industrial Park, in the State of Mexico, including the audit of the property.

Advised W. Grant and Sons in the acquisition of a tequila manufacturing plant, built on a 3.5 acres property located in Atotonilco el Alto, in the State of Jalisco, including the audit of the property and the operation of the plant, including water permits and concessions.

Advised Bax Global, Inc., O’Neal Steel Company, STMicroelectronics, Inc. and Home Interiors & Gifts, Inc. in the leasing of industrial warehouses in Mexico.

Advised Walmart for the purchase and sale of a 2,055,906 ft2 property for the construction of a Distribution Center, located in the Municipality of Teya, Yucatan, including the review of the disaffectation of the property from an ejido.

Advised Walmart to lease two adjacent properties with a total area of 1,786,809 ft2 for the construction of a Distribution Center located in the Municipality of Chihuahua, State of Chihuahua.

Audits of more than 25 properties at Walmart’s request for acquisition and/or lease for the construction and establishment of stores in its various formats, to identify the existence of risks in the property titles, the disaffection of the ejido regime as well as the congruence and veracity of the properties, comparing surveys and plans with comparative ones.

Advised Walmart in the documentation and negotiation of 12 lease-purchase agreements in more than 9 Mexican states, for the construction and operation of stores under various formats, including the negotiation with developers for the construction of the cash registers and the conditions for the delivery and start-up of the stores.

Advised Walmart in the documentation and negotiation of more than 6 real estate purchase and sale agreements in several Mexican states for the construction and operation of stores under different formats.

We advised Fibra Shop in the initial contribution at the time of the placement of 6 shopping centers and 5 additional shopping centers, as add-ons to the same.