Bio

David S. Keast is an of counsel member of the firm’s Business Law Department. He focuses his practice in the areas of real estate transactions and development and commercial loan origination and restructuring services. Mr. Keast has particular expertise working with commercial real estate developers and advising community associations and condominium developers.

Prior to entering private practice, Mr. Keast served as general counsel of Crosswinds Communities, Inc., a Novi, Michigan-based residential condominium developer and deputy general counsel of Michigan National Corporation, the Farmington Hills, Michigan parent of Michigan National Bank.

Representative Client Work

  • Lead bank counsel in successful commercial loan recovery effort involving failed bank
  • Represented prominent residential builder in a multi-million dollar land acquisition and development project near Ford Field in Detroit
  • Lead negotiator with federal agency over bank reporting violations       
  • Assisted commercial real estate developer in obtaining approval for a multi-million dollar mixed-use project in Birmingham involving reclamation of a Brownfield site
  • Lead transactional counsel, bank business acquisitions and divestitures
  • Senior bank commercial loan origination specialist and manager
  • Produced significant improvements in legal services quality and cost by introducing innovative technological, work process and staffing strategies
  • Successfully negotiated, on behalf of a commercial real estate developer, an agreement with the City of Monroe providing for the TIF-financed reclamation of a Brownfield site
  • Extensive experience providing residential and business condominium development project services, including land acquisition and residential and business condominium project formation and sales documentation
  • Concentrated experience in community association law and practice, including internal development and communication of innovative strategies for common element insurance/repair cost containment
  • Strategic responsibility for major circuit court litigation involving developers and community associations

Professional Affiliations

  • State Bar of Michigan (Real Property Law Section)

Credentials

Education

  • University of Michigan Law School, J.D., 1974
  • Michigan State University, B.A., 1971

Admissions

  • Michigan, 1974

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