Profile
Practicing at Taylor English allows our attorneys to give 100 percent to enhancing our clients’ profitability by providing top-notch legal and business advice.
Lucas "Luke" Smith has earned a strong reputation among clients for his combination of legal ability, dedication and business sense. Mr. Smith regularly represents clients throughout the resort and leisure industry, such as condominium, hotel, timeshare and fractional development owners, operators, developers, management companies and exchange companies, and operators of travel clubs, vacation clubs, destination clubs and other leisure-based clubs and products. In 2013, he was a finalist for the American Resort Development Association’s “ARDY” Award for Best Alliance Partner. Mr. Smith’s expertise further includes more traditional hotel practice, including acquisitions, finance, construction and renovation, management and franchising agreements.
In addition to being part of the Travel, Leisure and Hospitality Department since its inception, Mr. Smith also is a member of the Corporate and Business and Real Estate Departments, where he advises clients in other industries in transactions such as finance, mergers & acquisition, marketing leasing, franchise and general corporate and real estate practice.
Mr. Smith’s body of work includes representing clients in the structuring and closing of acquisition, development, finance and joint venture/alliance partner transactions; advising clients in the creation and rollout of products and services and business planning; securing regulatory compliance; and defending marketing trade practice cases.
Mr. Smith was a Division I men’s ice hockey player and captain who has carried the same intensity, commitment and team-first spirit to his law practice.
Memberships
National Association for Industrial and Office Parks (NAIOP) Commercial Real Estate Development Association, Member, 2010-present
State Bar of Georgia, Real Estate & Corporate Law Sections, Member, 2006-present
American Resort Development Association, Member, 2006-present
Practice Highlights
Experience
Served as lead counsel for a hotel and timeshare developer in connection with its acquisition of the Polynesian Dells Waterpark Resort in Wisconsin Dells, and Polynesian’s conversion of the resort to vacation ownership. The transaction included securing acquisition financing, closing the purchase, change in hotel management, the sales and marketing of vacation ownership interests in the resort and the negotiation of a timeshare receivable loan facility.
Lead lender and borrower counsel in Commercial Mortgage Backed Securities, Timeshare and other Real Property-based receivables hypothecation loan and purchase facilities.
Counselor in the creation, compliance and negotiation of national marketing campaigns on behalf of banks, telecommunications providers and retail outlets.
Lead Counsel in the development of high rise and mid-rise mixed use condominium developments in Orlando, Florida.
Lead Counsel for Hotel/Resort Developer in the negotiation of Agreement for Hotel Reservation System.
Advised client in high rise loan workout and property management arrangement for condominium developer in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina.
Drafts consumer purchase and financing documents for sale and financing of vacation products, including related disclosure documents, escrow agreements, and security instruments.
Created and drafted all formational legal work to kick off this newly designed and innovative club format allowing members to vacation, as they choose.
Documentation and regulatory compliance, including registrations, related to new product offering at Cloisters Condominium complex, Sea Island Resorts.
Served as lead counsel in the creation, structuring, negotiation and documenting of more than two dozen “capital light” and “fee for service” timeshare acquisition, sale, marketing, development, management, and financing transactions involving projects located in Arizona, California, Colorado, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Massachusetts, Missouri, Tennessee, Maine, New Hampshire, New York, N. Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, Virginia ...
Acted as lead counsel for an international resort hospitality company in connection with the structuring and creation of a multi-faceted strategic alliance with Choice Hotels International, Inc., which included components of brand licensing, affinity marketing, loyalty program integration, and hotel franchising.
Served as lead counsel in structuring, negotiating and documenting the acquisition of the Hotel Blake – Chicago and its subsequent phased conversion to the first timeshare condominium in Chicago, while simultaneously maintaining its existing hotel operation.
Assisted clients in structuring, creating, documenting, and registering dozens of single site and multi-site timeshare vacation clubs with resorts located throughout the U.S. and the Caribbean.
Represented a bank resort lender in connection with the structuring, negotiation and documentation of the conversion of a construction loan to a vacation ownership receivables hypothecation loan.
Newsroom
Speaking Engagements
- “The kNOws of Communicating with Customers and Prospects,” moderator, ARDA WorldMay 2018
- “Alternative Fuels to Growth,” panel presentation, ARDA WorldMay 2016
- "Travel Clubs - A Product That's Time Has Come," panel presentation, ARDA WorldApril 2014
- "Consumer Protection 2013: Lost in a Sea of Regulations and New Oversight," panel presentation, ARDA WorldApril 2013
- "Commercial Development Within a Mixed Use Development" and "The Retail Strip, Office Buildings and Condominiums, Restaurants," Lorman SeminarSummer 2007
Publications
- “Choosing the Right Match in Your Resale Partner: An Association’s Perspective,” Developments MagazineApril-May 2017
- "Travel Clubs: Considerations for an increasingly valuable vacation product," Developments Magazine
- With James J. Scavo. "Web-Based Travel Products and Offerings," DevelopmentsNovember/December 2011
Headlines
News Releases
- February 24, 2020
- February 20, 2019
- February 22, 2018
Services
- Corporate and Business
- Data Security and Privacy
- Financial Institutions
- Leisure and Hospitality
- Business Law Services
- Complex Credit Facilities and Securitizations
- Formation of Timeshare Resorts and Vacation, Travel and Destination Clubs
- Hotel and Resort Management and Operations
- Marketing, Promotional and Affinity Programs
- Project (Hotel and Resort) Acquisition
- Project (Hotel and Resort) Financing
- Project (Hotel and Resort) Structuring and Development
- Regulatory Compliance and Administrative Law
- Restaurant, Food and Beverage
- Trade Practice/Governmental Investigations
- Lending and Corporate Finance
- Real Estate
Education
The University of Georgia School of Law, JD, cum laude, 2006
Merrimack College, BA, magna cum laude, 2003
Bar Admissions
Georgia
Accolades
2013 ARDY Finalist for Alliance Partner
2006 CALI Excellence for the Future Award; Constitutional Law
Georgia Super Lawyers, Rising Stars, 2018-2020