William Mayer

What I am qualified to opine on

1. Developer obligations to municipalities and public agencies

   Development agreements, conditions of approval, subdivision improvement agreements, cost sharing agreements and affordable housing agreements, performance and payment security, dedication and acceptance of public improvements, and the entitlement of infrastructure including roads, bridges, utilities, navigable waterways, and marina facilities. Community facilities district financing, notices of special tax, and the obligations of a successor developer that acquires an entitled project subject to conditions negotiated by a predecessor.

2. Multi-family and retail leasing and property management

   Anchor, in-line retail, restaurant, and industrial leasing, and residential leasing in multifamily communities. Landlord and tenant obligations, operating expense and common area maintenance practice, tenant improvement and delivery obligations, exclusives and use restrictions, and estoppels and subordination. On-site and third-party property management, vendor and service contracting, and Department of Real Estate compliance.

3. Common interest developments

   Declarant and developer obligations, preparation of articles, bylaws, and declarations of covenants, conditions and restrictions, public report and subdivision approval practice, transition from declarant control to association control, association governance and board practice, and community management practice.

4. Construction defect, warranty, and disclosure practice

   Builder response to defect and warranty claims, pre-litigation procedure under the Calderon Act and the Right to Repair Act, homeowner notification and repair offers, claim avoidance programs, homebuyer disclosure practice, and owner-controlled (wrap) insurance programs.

5. Production and master-planned homebuilding

   Land acquisition and underwriting, option and rolling takedown structures, subdivision mapping, entitlement and permitting, finished lot and land sales between developers and homebuilders, homebuyer purchase agreements, sales incentive and marketing practice, and contracting with trade contractors and design professionals.

6. Environmental conditions in land development

   Identification and resolution of environmental conditions on development sites, including groundwater and soils remediation and mine reclamation. CEQA and related environmental documentation, stormwater management and construction site discharge practice, and the customary conduct of developers in addressing environmental conditions as a condition of development.

7. Development joint ventures with institutional capital

   Sponsor and capital partner roles, capital contributions and capital calls, major-decision and consent provisions, manager conduct, and distribution structures.

I offer opinions on industry custom, practice, and standards of conduct. I do not offer opinions on questions of law.

Three decades inside the real estate industry

For fourteen years I was the first West Region General Counsel of D.R. Horton, the largest homebuilder in the United States, with executive authority over land acquisition, entitlement, construction contracting, and new home sales across more than ten operating divisions and eight western states. I wrote the region's land acquisition protocol, rewrote its homebuyer purchase, warranty, and disclosure documents, revised every subcontractor and professional services agreement, and built and ran its construction defect avoidance program.

Among the projects I worked on there was Seabridge, a 135-acre waterfront community in Oxnard built between 2006 and 2008. Raw land was converted into island neighborhoods served by excavated navigable waterways, with private boat docks, a marina, and retail including the Seabridge Marina Center. Entitlement ran through the City of Oxnard certified Local Coastal Program, a coastal development permit carrying 133 conditions, a development agreement, and an appeal to the California Coastal Commission resolved in 2003 with further conditions on public access dedication, transfer of 436,568 cubic yards of prime agricultural soil to a non-prime recipient site under a ten-year monitoring program, and harbor water quality. The company acquired the entitled project from Oly Mandalay General Partnership. I participated in that acquisition and then in the construction and in compliance with the conditions of approval.

I also represented the company as an owner of property in the vicinity of the State Route 56 corridor in San Diego, which connects Interstate 5 near Del Mar to Interstate 15, in connection with the alignment of that corridor and its effect on company holdings.

Before that I spent a decade as counsel to common interest developments, first through a practice I founded and then as practice group leader for common interest development and real estate at Duke, Gerstel, Shearer, serving as outside general counsel to more than one hundred homeowners associations. I chaired the Common Interest Development Subsection of the Real Property Law Section of the State Bar of California and co-authored a reference guide in the field.

Since 2017 I have been Chief Operating Officer and Chief Legal Officer of Sudberry Properties, a San Diego developer and property manager of retail, office, industrial, multifamily, hospitality, and mixed-use assets. I oversee the whole of it: development and construction, commercial and residential leasing, property management, DRE compliance, risk, and the legal function.

That work runs through many shopping centers throughout San Diego County with tenants such as Home Depot, IKEA, Target, and Trader Joe’s, and many other retail businesses and restaurants, as well as through master-planned communities, including Civita in Mission Valley and El Corazon in Oceanside. It includes leasing, property management, selling finished land to homebuilders, negotiating the construction contracts for residential and retail vertical, and delivering the institutional and entertainment uses within those communities, among them Frontwave Arena and the SoCal Sports Complex at El Corazon. I have negotiated hotel franchise agreements and built the Hampton Inn in Imperial Beach, negotiated the sale of Bonita Point Plaza, and led development agreements, public improvement obligations, and joint ventures with institutional capital partners throughout.

• Sudberry Properties, Inc.2017 — Present
• McKinney Capital & Advisory2017
• D.R. Horton, Inc. (NYSE: DHI)2002 — 2016
• Duke, Gerstel, Shearer, LLP1998 — 2002
• Community Association Law Group1992 — 1998
• National Air & Energy, Inc.1990 — 1992

Qualifications

Licensure

Member, State Bar of California, No. 147592, active and in good standing

Education

J.D., California Western School of Law. B.A., Government and Politics, University of Maryland.

Bar service

Chair, Common Interest Development Subsection, Real Property Law Section, State Bar of California

Writing

Co-author, Common Interest Development Reference and Guide (2001), a practice reference prepared for community association clients. Editorial board, Common Ground, the national magazine of Community Associations Institute.

Teaching

Faculty and Curriculum Chair, graduate and undergraduate business and management, University of Phoenix. Adjunct faculty in business law and business ethics, San Diego Mesa College.

Alternative dispute resolution

Certified Mediator, American Institute of Mediation. More than 200 mediations and 250 arbitrations as party representative and lead negotiator.

Recognition

General Counsel of the Year, San Diego Business Journal, 2015