In honor and remembrance for our partner, mentor, and friend W. Gerald Thornton please see his In Memoriam https://www.manningfulton.com/news/in-memoriam-w-gerald-thornton/

Durham

Diamond View II, Suite 130, 280 South Mangum Street, Durham, NC 27701

(919) 787-8880 Contact

Raleigh

3605 Glenwood Avenue, Suite 500, Raleigh, NC 27612

(919) 787-8880 Contact

Alison’s client base includes primarily real estate developers and investors.  She counsels clients from the land acquisition stage through the Financing, Development, Construction, and Sale of their projects.  A particular focus of her practice is on the preparation of Restrictive Covenants, Reciprocal Easements, and Condominium Ownership structures.

About

Alison’s broad-based practice allows her to counsel clients through all stages of a real estate transaction.  Her practice is statewide, with a focus on the Triangle area.  Among her client base are established commercial and residential developers, as well as many family-owned companies involved in the development and management of their real estate holdings.

She routinely takes projects from contract negotiations through the due diligence phase and the land acquisition closing.  Typically, as borrower counsel, Alison handles the financing of the project and then assists the client through the property development phase and onto the ultimate construction and leasing or sale of the project.  No two projects are the same however, and she works to find practical solutions to issues that arise in each case.   Many of her deals involve replacement or relinquished property under a 1031 exchange structure.

Typical commercial development projects that Alison has worked on include mixed-use subdivisions, commercial subdivisions and the accompanying negotiations of build to suit leases for tenants, multi-family projects, including financing for both construction and Fannie Mae loans, and the acquisition, construction, and development of hotels in numerous counties in the state.  Typical residential development projects include numerous single-family residential subdivisions, golf course communities, townhome and residential condominium developments.

Alison has developed a particular focus on the creation of private land use controls in the form of restrictive covenants and reciprocal easements for commercial developments (both single purpose and mixed-use) and residential restrictive covenants for residential planned developments. She has a great deal of experience in creating various forms of condominium structures.  Her work in that realm includes the creation of the residential condominium portion within a mixed-use office tower, land condominiums for mixed-use projects or phased office developments, and traditional stacked unit residential and office condominiums.  She also assists in the analysis of the appropriate property owner’s association structure for each proposed condominium or planned development project.  For clients who have acquired existing projects, Alison provides counsel on the structure and necessary amendments to the existing covenants and owner’s association documents to allow the client to achieve its goals with that project.

Having practiced with the firm since she was licensed in North Carolina, Alison enjoys long-term working relationships with her clients and appreciates the fact that she has been able to contribute to the built environment of the Triangle and the state through the projects she has handled through the years.

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Credentials

Education

  • University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill – J.D./M.R.P – 1991
  • The University of the South (Sewanee) – B.A. in English – 1986 – Cum Laude

Admitted to Practice

  • State of North Carolina – 1991

Professional Memberships & Activities

  • American Bar Association Member
  • Wake County Bar Association Member (1991 – Present)
  • Wake County Real Property Lawyers (1991 – Present)
  • North Carolina Bar Association Member (1991-Present)
    • Real Property Section (1991 – Present)
    • Homeowners Association/Condominium Subcommittee (2013-Present)
  • North Carolina State Bar Certified Specialist in Real Property Law: Business, Commercial and Industrial Transactions (2003 – Present)
    • North Carolina State Bar Real Estate Specialization Committee (2014 – Present)
    • North Carolina Uniform Bar Exam State Specific Component – Real Estate Subcommittee (2016 – Present)
  • Consistently named the among Business North Carolina’s Legal Elite in the area of Real Property (2009 – 2019)
  • Recognized in Best Lawyers for Real Estate Law (since 2018)
  • NC Super Lawyers
  • Martindale Hubble AV Rated

Representative Transactions

  • Has represented and continues to represent residential subdivision developers in the acquisition, development and sale of lots to builders for numerous planned residential communities in Wake, Durham, Johnston and Orange Counties.
  • Represents Raleigh-based hospitality company in the acquisition, financing and construction of mid-sized hotels with national franchises throughout North Carolina.
  • Created land condominium structure for redevelopment of a student housing and mixed-use development site in Chapel Hill.
  • Serves as title, acquisition and construction and Fannie Mae financing counsel for multi-family apartment and self-storage facility developer on numerous projects throughout North Carolina.
  • Represents medical office building developers in the acquisition, financing, construction, and leasing of sites throughout North Carolina.
  • Created restrictive covenants and accompanying owner’s association documentation for master, commercial and residential associations within 500+ acre mixed use development in Raleigh.
  • Represented clients in the assemblage, financing and development of 800+ acre residential golf course community, including development of master and sub-association restrictive covenants and creation of corresponding property owners associations in Wake Forest.
  • Represented client in mixed-use development in Durham with creation of a multi-layered condominium structure, including land condominium, building condominium by floor for retail, commercial and residential uses, and residential unit condominium.

Community Engagement

Triangle Commercial Real Estate Women

  • Board of Directors (2010 – 2012)
  • Member (2002 – Present)

Aldert Root School Educational Foundation

  • Founding Member (2005)
  • President (2005 – 2009)

Saint Mary’s School – Parents Association Committee Chair (2010 – 2014)

Broughton High School – PTA Committee Co-Chair (2015 – 2017)

White Memorial Presbyterian Church

  • Elder (2012 – 2015)
  • Church School Superintendent (2010 – 2011)
  • Presbyterian Women (1999 – Present)

Triangle Land Conservancy

  • Land and Stewardship Committee (1997-2000)

Contact Us

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Contact Us

Contact Us