Stephen G. Stwora-Hail

Partner

Steve Stwora-Hail has more than 30 years of experience in greater Sacramento's real estate community. He brings unrivaled depth and breadth of knowledge of real estate law to the negotiation table representing major commercial developers of retail, office, industrial/warehousing and residential projects with the acquisition, land use, development, construction and leasing of their properties. He has negotiated on behalf of sophisticated landlords as well as anchor and credit tenants, and knows the critical issues of both sides. Steve has represented financial institutions and developers in negotiating real estate secured loans and workouts. He has also assisted developers in forming entities to hold their real estate interests for tax purposes and investment strategies.

Steve has published numerous articles and is a frequent speaker on real property law for the American Bar Association, California's Continuing Education of the Bar, and the Real Property Section of the State Bar of California. He has recently coauthored chapters in CEB's “California Easements and Boundaries” and CEB's “California Real Property Sales Transactions.” He is a former chair of the Real Property Section of the State Bar and was a member of its Executive Committee for six years.

One of Steve's clients is the Teel Family Trust, which owns the Raley's, Bel Air Mart, Knob Hill Foods and Food Source chains of grocery stores. For these companies, he has negotiated acquisition, development and lease agreements for the construction of new stores, as well as the CC&Rs and reciprocal easement agreements for the shopping centers in which they are located. He also assisted Raley's and the Trust in the acquisition of the Bel Air Mart and Knob Hill Foods chains, as well as the developing and financing of Raley's $35 million warehouse distribution site in North Natomas. Steve also represented the Trust and Raley's in development of the Raley's Landing Project, a 10-city block mixed-use (office/residential/retail) project along the Sacramento River in West Sacramento. He worked on obtaining all entitlements for the site from the City of West Sacramento and its Redevelopment Agency through various development agreements and an owner's participation agreement. He also negotiated sales of parcels within this project to CalSTRS, which acquired the land to build its main office of operations.

Steve has assisted retail developers in development of strip centers, neighborhood centers and regional centers, and negotiating transactions on their behalf with national tenants such as Home Depot, Lowe's, Target, Best Buy, PetsMart, Staples, Ross Dress for Less, TJ Maxx, ToysRUs, Sports Chalet, Sports Authority, JoAnn's, Pet Club, Office Max, Pier One, Sleep Train, Sportsman's Warehouse and Tractor Supply, as well as national pad users such as Walgreens, Carl's Jr., Panera Bread, Mimi's Café, Chili's, Kragen Auto Parts, In ‘n Out Burger, McDonald's, Panda Express, Chipotle, Quizno's, Chick-fil-A, 7-11, Auto Zone, and Jamba Juice.

Steve has also represented agricultural clients in the sale, acquisition and leasing of farms, vineyards and ranches, and in negotiating easements, oil and gas leases, farm management agreements, crop purchase agreements, financing packages, and leases and easements for communication towers, wind turbines and solar farms. He assisted Horizon Dairy in its acquisition of a 600 acre farm in South Sacramento County, where the acquisition costs were supplemented by negotiating conservation easements with The Nature Conservancy. Steve also represents Union Creek Holdings, LLC on annexation and land use matters for its 1,000 acres located between the City of Suisun and Travis Air Force Base.

Steve recently assisted the California Department of General Services in ground leasing 150 acres of land to Majestic Realty Co. for the development of 3,000,000 square feet of warehouse space. He also assisted California Corrections and Health Care Services in leasing 280,000 square feet of office space in the City of Elk Grove, and assisted the State of California in the negotiations for selling the Orange County Fair Grounds and Del Mar Fair Grounds. He has also negotiated numerous cellular tower and rooftop leases and easements.

In addition to his extensive background in real estate matters, Steve also has broad experience in a wide variety of other business transactions. Steve started his career as a tax and securities attorney in San Jose, forming private placement real estate syndications. When the 1986 Tax Act eliminated most tax advantages to real estate investments, Steve began to broaden his practice representing and advising the officers and boards of local financial institutions, including Capitol Savings and Loan, Sacramento Savings Bank, First Credit Union, SAFE Credit Union, The Golden 1 Credit Union, and First Northern Bank of Dixon. In representing these institutions, he not only assisted them in federal and state compliance of their operations and lending instruments, but also advised them on vendor, IT and consultant contracts, human resources, anti-trust issues, trademark and copyright issues, and general litigation support in all these matters. Steve has also counseled small and large companies on similar matters, including Sacramento Municipal Utility District and the Port of Sacramento. Given Steve’s wide scope of practice, he is one of BB&K’s relationship partners who assists and guides our clients through all their legal needs.

Education

• Santa Clara University, J.D.
• University of Chicago, B.A.

Bar Admissions

• California

Awards

• AV peer review rating from Martindale-Hubbell

Stephen G. Stwora-Hail

Partner

• International Council of Shopping Centers Northern California State Government Relations Chair (2015-2016)
• International Council of Shopping Centers Northern California Planning and Program Committee (2006-present)
• California Continuing Education of the Bar (CEB), Advisory Committee for Real Estate Law (2004-2013)
• California Continuing Education of the Bar (CEB), Governing Committee (2001-2003)
• Sacramento Chapter of Lambda Alpha International, Member (1996-present)
• California Business Properties Association, Advisory Board (1993-present)
• San Joaquin County Business Council, Inc., Director (2001-2003)