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If you are a commercial investor, commercial property owner expanding your footprint or you are branching out of the residential real estate market and into the commercial arena, then there are specific issues that need to be taken into consideration that is unique to commercial real estate transactions in the State of Florida. First and foremost, one of the most prudent decisions you can make is to enlist the advice and services of an experienced real estate attorney familiar with the rules and regulations governing commercial transactions. These types of real estate transactions can be quite complex especially if you do not own commercial property or have never been involved in its purchase before. At Heekin Law, P.A. we specialize in commercial real estate transaction and litigation services. Our lead commercial attorneys Geoff Heekin and Ariel Spires have over 40 years of shared legal experience and are extremely knowledgeable in all aspects of business, construction, and real estate law. Before making any commercial purchases seek out their knowledge and counsel to prevent any complications from taking place during the real estate transaction. Below are some unique considerations that must be addressed before making a final offer on any commercial real estate purchases.
Not to get too complicated but zoning restrictions are one of the most important considerations when purchasing land for commercial enterprise. These zoning rules depend on the type of business that will occupy the commercial space. If one purchases property that is not properly zoned for the type of business that will occupy the space this will lead to numerous legal ramifications. An experienced commercial and real estate law attorney in Jacksonville fl can advise you on land use and zoning ordinances and restrictions.
As with any real estate purchase, land, building, even neighborhood environmental assessment, it is important to hire a certified home or commercial building inspector to conduct a thorough inspection of the premises to ensure that the physical elements and mechanical systems are fully operational and up to codes and standards. Additional considerations need to be assessed for commercial property such as compliance with the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) requirements and even wind mitigations and indoor air quality. Many elements of an existing building might need to re-qualified for insurance purposes and if new building permits are required, renovations performed on new upgrades need to adhere to current building codes.
Again, as with any real estate purchase, it is important to ensure that the title or deed to a property is free and clear. It is important to perform a title search and a municipal lien search when acquiring a commercial property. Deeds do not reveal any liens that might have been placed on the property and the lawyers at Heekin Law, P.A. can assist you in determining if any open liens exist. Without a clear title, a buyer will not be able to obtain title insurance protection. These actions can validate if any third-party actions might pose a claim against the title.
Most commercial real estate transactions represent a substantial financial commitment. Making proper and informed decisions about a commercial property purchase, which can involve multiple issues including land use laws, zoning and municipal ordinances is something the attorneys at Heekin Law, P.A. are extremely knowledgeable and experienced in. Our legal practice is well-versed in all aspects of business law, construction law, HOA and COA governance, and real estate law for commercial entities. Give us a call today at 904-355-7000 for a free, no-obligation consultation to discuss your next real estate purchase. Being legally informed is both a productive and proactive measure that can help a business owner significantly reduce the chance of incurring hardships.
We firmly believe that the internet should be available and accessible to anyone, and are committed to providing a website that is accessible to the widest possible audience, regardless of circumstance and ability.
To fulfill this, we aim to adhere as strictly as possible to the World Wide Web Consortium’s (W3C) Web Content Accessibility Guidelines 2.1 (WCAG 2.1) at the AA level. These guidelines explain how to make web content accessible to people with a wide array of disabilities. Complying with those guidelines helps us ensure that the website is accessible to all people: blind people, people with motor impairments, visual impairment, cognitive disabilities, and more.
This website utilizes various technologies that are meant to make it as accessible as possible at all times. We utilize an accessibility interface that allows persons with specific disabilities to adjust the website’s UI (user interface) and design it to their personal needs.
Additionally, the website utilizes an AI-based application that runs in the background and optimizes its accessibility level constantly. This application remediates the website’s HTML, adapts Its functionality and behavior for screen-readers used by the blind users, and for keyboard functions used by individuals with motor impairments.
If you’ve found a malfunction or have ideas for improvement, we’ll be happy to hear from you. You can reach out to the website’s operators by using the following email
Our website implements the ARIA attributes (Accessible Rich Internet Applications) technique, alongside various different behavioral changes, to ensure blind users visiting with screen-readers are able to read, comprehend, and enjoy the website’s functions. As soon as a user with a screen-reader enters your site, they immediately receive a prompt to enter the Screen-Reader Profile so they can browse and operate your site effectively. Here’s how our website covers some of the most important screen-reader requirements, alongside console screenshots of code examples:
Screen-reader optimization: we run a background process that learns the website’s components from top to bottom, to ensure ongoing compliance even when updating the website. In this process, we provide screen-readers with meaningful data using the ARIA set of attributes. For example, we provide accurate form labels; descriptions for actionable icons (social media icons, search icons, cart icons, etc.); validation guidance for form inputs; element roles such as buttons, menus, modal dialogues (popups), and others. Additionally, the background process scans all of the website’s images and provides an accurate and meaningful image-object-recognition-based description as an ALT (alternate text) tag for images that are not described. It will also extract texts that are embedded within the image, using an OCR (optical character recognition) technology. To turn on screen-reader adjustments at any time, users need only to press the Alt+1 keyboard combination. Screen-reader users also get automatic announcements to turn the Screen-reader mode on as soon as they enter the website.
These adjustments are compatible with all popular screen readers, including JAWS and NVDA.
Keyboard navigation optimization: The background process also adjusts the website’s HTML, and adds various behaviors using JavaScript code to make the website operable by the keyboard. This includes the ability to navigate the website using the Tab and Shift+Tab keys, operate dropdowns with the arrow keys, close them with Esc, trigger buttons and links using the Enter key, navigate between radio and checkbox elements using the arrow keys, and fill them in with the Spacebar or Enter key.Additionally, keyboard users will find quick-navigation and content-skip menus, available at any time by clicking Alt+1, or as the first elements of the site while navigating with the keyboard. The background process also handles triggered popups by moving the keyboard focus towards them as soon as they appear, and not allow the focus drift outside of it.
Users can also use shortcuts such as “M” (menus), “H” (headings), “F” (forms), “B” (buttons), and “G” (graphics) to jump to specific elements.
We aim to support the widest array of browsers and assistive technologies as possible, so our users can choose the best fitting tools for them, with as few limitations as possible. Therefore, we have worked very hard to be able to support all major systems that comprise over 95% of the user market share including Google Chrome, Mozilla Firefox, Apple Safari, Opera and Microsoft Edge, JAWS and NVDA (screen readers), both for Windows and for MAC users.
Despite our very best efforts to allow anybody to adjust the website to their needs, there may still be pages or sections that are not fully accessible, are in the process of becoming accessible, or are lacking an adequate technological solution to make them accessible. Still, we are continually improving our accessibility, adding, updating and improving its options and features, and developing and adopting new technologies. All this is meant to reach the optimal level of accessibility, following technological advancements. For any assistance, please reach out to