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In a recent interview with Law360 Real Estate Authority, Blank Rome partner and <a href="/services-and-industries/hospitality/" type="poa_practice" id="18329">Hospitality</a> practice co-chair <a href="/people/christy-l-reuter/" type="poa_person" id="18946">Christy L. Reuter</a> shared insights on several evolving trends shaping the hospitality and real estate sectors. Among the topics discussed were the increasing use of tenant-landlord joint ventures at restaurant properties, the growing willingness of operators to invest directly in hospitality ventures, and the expanding role of restaurants as key drivers of value in office, residential, and mixed-use developments.

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Christy also explored how these evolving deal structures are aligning the interests of owners, operators, and developers, as well as the opportunities and legal considerations that come with more collaborative investment models.

An excerpt of the article is copied below.

I wanted to kick things off with deal structure in the hospitality space. What are you seeing in terms of how hospitality deal structures have been changing of late?

OK, a couple of things. One, I'm seeing more operators investing into management deals, where previously a typical management structure would be the owner essentially funds everything from construction, operating expenses, operating losses, etc. Managers or operators, if you will, are now putting a little bit more skin in the game. The second is joint ventures between owners and operators, whether it's in the form of investment in the tenant entity by the building owner or some other form of that structure where the parties are actually becoming partners in the structure of the deal. For restaurants, more or less.

When we talk about more skin in the game for operators, what do you think is the reason behind that? Are there market conditions driving that? Can you talk more about why you think that's happening?

I think in both scenarios, on the one hand where the management entity is investing in the tenant entity, for example, it's always beneficial to be a tenant, because you have different rights, better rights of possession, etc., than being just a manager in a typical management deal.

I think in terms of the investment, the owners are looking for these larger hospitality companies to also share in some of the losses, if there's a loss, or you to share in the risk, obviously. And maybe have a little bit more, like I said, skin in the game and more focus to make the venture successful. Whereas in a typical management deal, after a certain amount of money has been spent by the owner or after a certain amount of time, if different measurements aren't achieved — versus, for example, if certain net profits aren't achieved by a certain year — then the agreement is terminated. And by putting money in the deal, it's also beneficial for the manager because then you can certainly negotiate a better deal for yourself on termination rights if you're putting a significant amount of money into the deal structure. So it does benefit both sides to some degree, but obviously, the operator needs to be a company that has the financial resources to do that.

To read the full interview, please click <a href="https://www.law360.com/real-estate-authority/articles/2512823?">here</a>.

“Blank Rome Hospitality Atty Seeing More Tenant-Landlord JVs,” by Andrew McIntyre was published in <a href="https://www.law360.com/real-estate-authority/articles/2512823?">Law360 Real Estate Authority</a> on August 19, 2026.

Christy L. Reuter on the Growing Trend of Tenant-Landlord Joint Ventures in Hospitality

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Christy L. Reuter on the Growing Trend of Tenant-Landlord Joint Ventures in Hospitality

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