Alan has more than 33 years’ experience as a commercial property lawyer, primarily working on investment and development projects.
He also has experience working with art galleries, castles, and corporate demergers of real estate companies. These matters are often complex and at times also involve working collaboratively with litigators or corporates.
Alan is an experienced negotiator who acts for landlords (acquisition, preservation, enhancement and ultimate disposal of investments) and also enjoys working with corporate tenants, helping them to achieve the desired outcome when negotiating leases. In addition, he has excellent knowledge of landlord and tenant law.
Expertise
- Lease negotiations
- Landlord and tenant matters
- Investment purchases and disposals
- Development
- Art galleries
Experience
Investment Purchases & Disposals
- Advised on the sale of Bishops Auckland Castle (and the Zuburan paintings of Joseph and his sons) by the Church Commissioners of England.
- Acted for Citibank/Citigroup with the acquisitions, disposals and management of its UK real estate portfolio.
- Advised on the disposal of a prime City office investment for circa £69m.
- Negotiated for Gagosian Gallery LLC the pre-let acquisition (pre-construction) of its flagship Gallery in Grosvenor Hill from Grosvenor Estates.
- Acted for the Almine Rech Gallery in the acquisition of premises in Mayfair and then acted for the Gallery again in respect of the pre-let of its London Flagship Gallery.
- Acted for the House of Illustration on its acquisition by way of pre-let during the construction process of its Gallery in the Granary Square Development in Kings Cross.
- Advised the Quad Group of companies on the acquisition and subsequent residential development of the site in Notting Hill which became the Ink Building.
- Acted for a group of circa 40 individual freehold industrial unit owners in the disposal of a substantial combined site in Battersea to Battersea Power Station Limited (drafting heads of terms with agent through to exchange of contracts in 2 weeks).
- Negotiated the asset allocation of a £100m private property company for one half of the shareholders and subsequently advised on the distribution of the same (circa 2 years).
- Regularly advised the Gentian group of companies in relation to various A1/A3 schemes as part of numerous £70–400 million hospital PFI transactions.
Art Galleries
- Led (with litigation support) the contentious (and ultimately successful) renewal of Gagosian’s gallery lease in Britannia Street.
- Acted for Michael Werner in the renewal of its main Gallery Premises in London.
Development
- Advised Marshall Street Developments on its £70m+ mixed use development in Soho from initial negotiation of heads of terms through to exchange of development agreement with the City of Westminster and ongoing advice throughout, culminating in completion of the scheme.
- Acted for a commercial developer landowner on a joint venture with a well-known house builder for the creation of over 170 residential units and the construction of 7 commercial buildings at the Paintworks site in Bristol.
Please note: The experience list above may include examples of work completed prior to joining Keystone Law.
Career
Alan qualified as a solicitor in 1986. Prior to joining Keystone Law in 2019, he worked at Mishcon De Reya where he was a Partner for 26 years.