Vedder Price client Navy Pier, Inc. (NPI) recently signed a long-term lease with the Metropolitan Pier and Exposition Authority (MPEA) for all of Navy Pier and the adjoining Gateway Park. Vedder Price Shareholders Guy E. Snyder, William J. Lewis and James S. Montana, Jr., acted as lead transactional and corporate counsel to NPI throughout the transaction.

NPI was created as a not-for-profit corporation so that Navy Pier could be managed and governed separately from McCormick Place. Vedder Price assisted NPI with negotiating and drafting of the lease and various related matters, as well as advising the NPI board on this transaction. The lease will allow NPI to operate Navy Pier and implement its plans for revitalization.

Jim Montana noted, “As a full-service law firm, we were able to put together a team that could advise NPI on transactional, real estate, intellectual property, governmental and regulatory matters.”

The lease will be effective July 1, 2011, and has an initial term that expires June 30, 2036, and may be extended until June 30, 2116.