A national REIT engaged Barnes & Thornburg to support the acquisition of a two-site, nine-figure shopping center portfolio in the Southeast. The portfolio encompassed a diverse mix of anchor tenants, outparcels, and specialty retailers, each with distinct lease structures and operating requirements.

Challenge

The deal encompassed dozens of non-standard leases, with property-specific liability allocations, that required an additional level of diligence. The transaction was scheduled to close on a very tight timeline and a conventional manual approach would have consumed hundreds of attorney hours, putting the closing at risk.

Approach

Barnes & Thornburg proposed a fixed-fee arrangement for the entire lease diligence scope, signaling confidence in the team’s ability to deliver within budget and on schedule. Using Harvey AI, the team generated approximately 40 lease abstracts and extracted key terms, renewal options, co-tenancy provisions, and liability allocations at a pace that a conventional manual review could not match. The AI-assisted workflow surfaced material risks and critical exceptions efficiently, while establishing a repeatable process for future complex acquisitions.

Impact

The transaction closed on schedule and within the fixed-fee budget. The client has since engaged the firm on additional real estate transactions, and the AI-driven lease diligence workflow has been replicated across subsequent acquisitions. By combining the speed of AI-assisted extraction with the judgment of experienced real estate counsel, the team demonstrated that technology-enabled diligence can deliver both precision and efficiency on high-stakes deals.