Mr. Shibata has been responsible for numerous real estate transactions, including the purchase of hotels, shopping centers, buildings, and land. His practice involves drafting complex contracts and other real property documents and assisting in real estate developments, including changes in land use classifications, development plans and zoning, subdivisions and consolidations, the development of covenants, conditions and restrictions, and the drafting of residential, commercial and industrial leases. He has also represented numerous banks in foreclosures and in drafting loan documents.

Mr. Shibata has also represented numerous banks in foreclosures and in drafting loan documents.  Representative clients have included and include Tokyu Corporation, Inter-Continental Hotels, Marriott Corporation, Ritz Carlton Hotels, Halekulani Corporation, Mitsui Fudosan, Cook Inlet Region Inc., The Bascom Group, LLC, iStar, Hyatt Corporation, W.H. Smith, Leucadia, Tesoro Hawaii Corporation, Wallace Theaters, Japan Airlines, Cerberus, Angelo Gordon, DeBartolo Development, Google, and Lehman Brothers.  Examples of typical large, complex land transactions are the purchase of over 80,000 acres of former Castle & Cook land in North Kohala, the purchase of a retail store chain, and the purchase of a theater chain.  Examples of other transactions are the directing of the litigation with respect to the Maui Marriott Hotel and the purchase of the Maui Marriott Hotel, the closing of the purchases of the Ritz-Carlton Kapalua Hotel, Grand Wailea Hotel, the Hawaiian Regent Hotel, Aston Waikiki Beach Hotel, Kapalua Bay Hotel, Kauai Coconut Beach Hotel, Aloha Surf Hotel, the Continental Surf Hotel, the Hyatt Place Waikiki Hotel, the Maui Oceanfront Hotel, the Aqua Waikiki Pearl Hotel, the Ambassador Hotel, the Mauna Lani Bay Hotel & Resort and Alohilani Hotel, the purchase of timeshare lots at Koolina for the Marriott Corporation, the purchase and/or sale of the Lahaina Cannery Mall, Waiakea Shopping Center, Crossroads Shopping Center, Halekuai Shopping Center, Kahana Gateway Shopping and Office Complex, the Ma’alaea Harbor Shops and Restaurants, Sunset Villas Apartments, Kilani Apartments, Waikiki Trade Center, and Waianae Mall, the purchase of the Waipio Business Center, the purchase and development of industrial subdivisions Kenai Industrial Park and Malakole Industrial Park, the purchase of the 810 Richards Street office building, the purchase and development of the affordable housing projects Oasis at Waipahu Apartments, E Komo Mai Apartments, Hale Makana, Riverside Apartments, Royal Kinau Apartments, Kamana Elderly Apartments, the Residences and Central at Ala Moana, the purchase and financing of Hale Kapuna and Leeward Integrated health care facilities, the financing of the purchase of the Ilikai Hotel and Grand Wailea Hotel and refinancing of the Sheraton Waikiki Hotel, Moana Surf Hotel, Kaiulani Hotel, Sheraton Maui Hotel and Royal Hawaiian Hotel, the foreclosure of the Ilikai Hotel and the Kauai Beach Resort, and matters regarding the Marriott Edition Hotel.

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Mr. Shibata was a Managing Editor, University  of California at Davis Law School. After law school, Mr. Shibata clerked for the Honorable Raymond E. Plummer of the United States District Court of the District of Alaska (1976 -1977) and the Honorable James M. Fitzgerald of the United States District Court of the District of Alaska (1977-1978). He was an associate with Graham & James in Anchorage, Alaska, and  joined Rush Moore LLP in 1980. Mr. Shibata has been the Managing Partner of Rush Moore LLP since 2000.

Mr. Shibata is the author of Negotiating and Documents Commercial Real Estate Transactions, published in the Hawaii Bar Association’s Hawaii Real Estate Law Manual in 2009. He was selected amongst his peers as “Best Lawyer in Hawaii” and has been recognized by Chambers & Partners USA in the real estate field.

Mr. Shibata was the former President of the Board of Directors of Parents and Children Together and the former President of the Japan-Hawaii Lawyers Association and a former Member of the Board of Directors of Salvation Army and the Board of Directors of Historic Hawaii.

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