Erika Bruce is a leading real estate and property law attorney, focused on executing complex commercial property transactions for owners, developers, investors, and tenants nationwide. With experience structuring deals across every major asset class, from mixed-use centers and office buildings to raw land and industrial sites, she is known for her meticulous attention to detail and ability to bring large-scale projects to successful completion.

Ms. Bruce’s practice centers on the legal and business aspects of commercial property:

• Development & Leasing: Counseling owners and developers in major retail and power-center developments, including negotiating complex commercial leases with major anchor and national chain tenants.
• Acquisitions & Sales: Representing buyers, sellers, and lenders in the purchase, sale, exchange, and financing of improved and unimproved real estate.
• Financing & Structuring: Structuring and documenting ground leases, reciprocal easement agreements, build-to-suit transactions, and various financing arrangements.
• Specialized Projects: Drafting property management and construction contracts, with unique experience representing owners and investors in solar and wind energy transactions.

Her experience includes successfully negotiating transactions with prominent national and regional tenants such as: Academy, Aldi, Beall’s, Belk, Best Buy, Big Lots, Burke’s Outlet Stores, Chair King, Dick’s Sporting Goods, Dress Barn, DSW Shoe Warehouse, Family Dollar, Famous Footwear, HEB, Mattress Giant, Men’s Wearhouse, Michael’s, Office Depot, Office Max, Old Navy/GAP, Petco, PetSmart, Ross Stores (and dd’s), Shoe Carnival, Splittsville, Sports Authority/GART, Staples, TJX Companies (TJ Maxx, Home Goods, and Marshalls), Ulta; sales to: Albertson’s, Home Depot, Kohl’s, Kroger, Lowe’s, Sam’s Club, Target, and Wal-Mart; and ground leases or pad sales to: 7-11, Ashley Furniture, AutoZone, Chick-fil-A, Cinemark, Cracker Barrel, CVS, In-N-Out Burger, McDonald’s, numerous national and regional banks, Olive Garden, O’Reilly’s, Panda, Raising Cane’s, Starbucks, TopGolf, Walgreen’s, YUM Brands, and many others.

Ms. Bruce received a B.A. in political science, business, and philosophy from Washington University in 1992.  She received her J.D. from St. Mary’s University School of Law in 1995 and was an associate editor of the St. Mary’s Law Journal.x  She is admitted to practice before the United States District Court for the Northern District of Texas and is a member of the State Bar of Texas and the Dallas Bar Association.

• Super Lawyers (2018)
• AV Preeminent Peer Review Rated by Martindale-Hubbell
  

• Overall Issues of Development/Leasing involving an Equity Investor and a Tight Time Frame, International Counsel of Shopping Centers Law Conference (ICSC), Palm Desert, California, October 2001.

Representative engagements include:

• Representation of clients in the negotiation and formation of partnerships and the application for Minority Business Enterprise (MBE) certifications.
• Representation of numerous owners/landlords in connection with the purchase, development, financing, and leasing of large “power” shopping centers in Texas, Colorado, Illinois, and New Mexico of up to 1,100,000 square feet.
• Representation of equity investors/owners in connection with the purchase, development, financing, leasing and sale of “power” shopping centers and other commercial developments in Texas and Colorado.
• Representation of borrowers in connection with interim and permanent financing.