REAL ESTATE

Assisted in the acquisition due diligence efforts for a 200-plus international hotel portfolio. Worked for several months in conjunction with the client’s operational, accounting, and acquisition personnel to gauge each property’s market potential. Several properties were candidates for re-flagging, so we compared increases in ADR, occupancy and operating efficiencies to expenditures (hard and soft) necessary to reposition many of the properties. We interfaced with the legal team in interpreting ground leases, management agreements, franchise agreements and other documents. We also modeled the results of engineers and architects into our cash flow models. We extensively studied U.S. economic conditions and developed a base-case, pessimistic, and optimistic economic condition scenarios. Our work allowed the client to roll-up all properties’ forecasted operating results and determine a purchase price that would meet their investment objectives. This highly complex engagement involved extensive client interaction and teaming in order to best match skills with functions.

Not all experts can navigate the difficult and often uncharted waters of Construction Litigation. When faced with such a challenge, our Clients need a team that is responsive, objective and thorough; a team that can provide reliable and defensible results. In 2012, Accumyn created such a team to assist a law firm in a long standing lawsuit involving its Client, the Houston office of a national architecture firm.

After being briefed about a major water damage dispute on a 234 unit condominium project in Galveston Texas, Accumyn assigned professionals in both architecture and construction management to quickly research and analyze the facts of the case. Based on Accumyn’s examination of existing documents, we prepared two letter reports that detailed both the design and the as-built characteristics of the disputed defects

Accumyn’s Robert Burnham, a licensed and practicing Texas Architect, examined the defendant’s architectural documents, the plaintiff’s inspection reports, and the contractor’s repair proposals. Additionally, at the request of counsel, Accumyn’s Robert James, a licensed engineer, reviewed the plaintiff’s documents; the contractor’s cost estimates and Burnham’s report. Mr. James also field examined the water damage and staining conditions at the site, interviewed owner representatives, and   prepared a letter report with estimates of alternative repair costs. Despite the huge volume of information, Accumyn’s Team was able to issue a thoroughly researched and documented expert opinion in just a few days

Based on 30 years of experience, and then further substantiated by his recent research, Robert Burnham concluded that, for the time and location that the defendant’s services were performed, they complied with recognized industry standards, and they had prepared adequate and suitable details and specifications for the work in question. In fact, Robert Burnham helped to show that the damage was due to contractor’s errors, and not to the Architect’s negligence.

In summary, Accumyn was able to demonstrate that the conclusions reached by the plaintiff’s consultants were not supported by facts of the case. The opposing experts not only failed to properly consider alternative explanations, their opinions were undermined by numerous gaps between the data and their opinions.
Most importantly, Accumyn’s efforts helped our client obtain a Summary Judgment for the case; thus avoiding a long, painful and expensive civil trial.

The 9/11 terrorist attack on the World Trade Center also caused massive damage to surrounding office buildings, hotels and retail complexes nearby. Our professionals helped our client determine its losses from several business units in the complex. We built extensive databases to administer the claims functions and avoid duplication, and we were instrumental in all aspects of loss identification, claims preparation, and coordination with insurance companies’ representatives.