David J. Petersen

In March, many pending commercial real estate deals were scuttled by COVID-19. But for one deal that was close to the finish line, Tonkon Torp helped implement a simple but unusual solution to overcome the uncertainty caused by rapid market disruption and complete a multi-million dollar deal led by Real Estate & Land Use Practice Group Chair David Petersen.

Tonkon Torp has worked on the project at key stages throughout its lifespan. Led by David Petersen, the firm first helped the original developer obtain land rights and evaluate title issues. In 2013, the developer and Tonkon Torp began a four-year process to secure the project’s site certificate from the Oregon Energy Facility Siting Council.

Tonkon Torp completed a sophisticated, fast-moving real estate transaction for a client that involved a time-sensitive obligation to purchase, a shaky tenant, and pending litigation. The transaction was led by partner David Petersen, who chairs the firm’s Real Estate & Land Use Practice Group.

When Albina Head Start learned it was awarded a Blue Sky Fund grant to install a rooftop solar array on one of its buildings, it turned to its long-time pro bono legal partner, Tonkon Torp. The nonprofit organization knew that it would need legal guidance to ensure that it could meet the terms laid out in the grant’s detailed and binding Memo of Understanding.

After obtaining land rights for a 500 megawatt wind energy facility, Tonkon Torp helped Wheatridge file and process the first wind energy project presented to the Siting Council without a specific transmission corridor identified. Find details and more featured cases here.

Tonkon Torp represented our long-standing client, Obsidian Renewables, in sale of the Black Cap Solar II project to PSEG Solar Source, a New Jersey-based utility. Find details and more featured cases here.

Tonkon Torp represented one of the sellers in the $5.2 million sale of the historic Vintage Village Theatre in Coronado, California. Find details and more featured cases here.

Tonkon Torp’s real estate and land use team completed a time-sensitive transaction that enabled the fast-growing Yakima Products, Inc., to acquire its new corporate headquarters in Lake Oswego, Oregon. Find details and more featured cases here.

Tonkon Torp is proud to have helped Human Solutions navigate a complex financing project to transform a shuttered commercial property into an emergency 24/7 family housing shelter. Find details and more featured cases here.

Tonkon Torp acted as Oregon corporate counsel for its long-term client The Greenbrier Companies, Inc. in finalizing a 50/50 joint venture with Watco Companies, L.L.C. The venture combines the two companies’ railcar repair, refurbishment and maintenance businesses into a new organization, GBW Railcar Services, LLC.

In one of the quickest and most successful conclusions of a grocery chain bankruptcy proceeding, Tonkon Torp secured court approval of a reorganization plan for C&K Market, Inc., to emerge from Chapter 11 bankruptcy just seven months after filing. Find details and more featured cases here.

Attorneys David Petersen, Ted Herzog, and Duncan Delano recently provided the legal horsepower for a new, seven-lot rural residential development to be known as Trillium Estates on Chehalem Mountain. The property originally included one structure, which was slated for removal prior to development of the new parcels. Rather than the mundane bulldozing of the house, the client allowed the Newberg Fire Department to burn it down in a “burn to learn” training exercise.