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Practice Highlights

Represent sellers and purchasers of real estate, along with other entities, in all areas of real estate transactions
Serve clients regionally and nationally
Possess diverse and extensive industry experience

Practice News

White and Williams Earns Tier 1 Rankings from U.S. News "Best Law Firms" 2021
November 5, 2020

Adaptive Reuse & Best Practices in Repositioning Distressed Assets
January 27, 2021

New York State Legislature Reintroduces Bills to Extend Mortgage Recording Tax to Mezzanine Debt and Preferred Equity
February 12, 2021
Real Estate Alert

White and Williams Real Estate Finance Team Represents Brookfield Asset Management in $107 Million Financing
October 13, 2020

Real Estate

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Every real estate transaction is unique and requires strategic thinking, dedication and creative solutions. The ability of the lawyers in the Real Estate Group to understand the nuances of a transaction, their diverse and extensive industry and legal experience, and fostering a team approach with their clients has garnered the Group a well-deserved reputation for being deal makers whose primary goal is always the success of the client. We believe that getting involved early in the life cycle of a transaction enables us to effectively and efficiently get the transaction done and help our clients achieve their business objectives. Clients rely on our counsel, from transaction structure to documentation through closing and administration.

The hallmark of our practice is the close working relationship we have established with clients and our individualized attention to each of them. We approach each matter as a team, involving partners, associates and staff, and work with all levels of each client’s internal organization. This team approach enables us to handle matters expeditiously and efficiently without sacrificing attention to detail. We get to know each of our clients' businesses from the inside out and, in many cases, have helped our clients formulate their internal policies and procedures. We have also played an integral part in helping our clients develop their training programs and often conduct workshops and seminars for them on various subjects in the real estate arena. Our clients rely on us not only as lawyers documenting a complex transaction, but as advisors on structuring deals and as experienced problem solvers when new or unexpected issues arise. We pride ourselves on our ability to think creatively, to work effectively with opposing counsel and to implement “win-win” situations for clients in difficult transactions.

We represent sellers and purchasers of real estate, commercial landlords and tenants, community associations, title insurance companies, banks, investment funds and others in all aspects of real estate transactions.

We have established a relationship with a network of law firms throughout the country who assist in questions of local law, practice and customs to enhance our ability to serve our clients not only around the region, but around the country. We serve as local counsel for many out-of-state institutions and as their counsel for transactions occurring in the tri-state region. When necessary, we collaborate with lawyers in the firm's various practice groups for assistance in bankruptcy and insolvency issues, tax and regulatory matters, mergers and acquisitions, labor and employment, intellectual property and complex litigation.

With diverse and extensive industry experience, many of our lawyers are invited to speak at industry and association events. We are also members of, and have held leadership positions in, a number of real estate- related associations, including the Mortgage Bankers Association, the CRE Finance Council, the American Land Title Association, the American Resort Development Association and CREW Network.

Mezzanine Finance

We have extensive experience in the origination, acquisition, disposition, restructuring, and enforcement of mezzanine debt and other high yield structures such as “B” notes, subordinate participations, and preferred equity. Having worked extensively with structured investments across all parts of the capital stack in both times of high growth and distress, we have the market perspective and practical experience to get real estate deals done for our clients. We have earned a particularly strong reputation in the area of intercreditor, co-lender and participation agreement structuring, negotiation and enforcement.

Our clients include leading investment funds, life insurance companies and other market participants.

Our lawyers are active in industry conferences, regularly moderating and participating in panel discussions regarding legal trends in the high yield space, including construction mezzanine lending.

General Commercial Real Estate

We represent commercial real estate clients, including owners, sellers, purchasers and developers, as well as community associations, in a broad range of areas. We bring to bear our many years of experience to assist them in a variety of transactions and matters including:

The purchase and sale of improved and unimproved real estate
Due diligence and evaluations
Investigating and assisting in the remediation of environmentally impacted real estate, including taking properties through the “brownfield” process
Assisting in property management
Mechanics’ liens, code compliance and construction-related issues
Assisting condominium, cooperative and planned community associations in all aspects of planning, governance and operations for these communities
The resolution of title insurance claims

Real Estate Finance

White and Williams’ experienced Real Estate and Institutional Finance team handles transactions financing real estate projects of all types and sizes, from middle market to complex deals in the hundreds of millions of dollars. We counsel our clients, who include banks, life insurance companies and investment funds, through all phases of a transaction, from structuring and term sheet through closing and the life of the loan, on financing transactions including:

Acquisition and other permanent loans on all property types (including multifamily, retail, office, hotel, timeshare, industrial, warehouse, medical office buildings, dialysis centers, student housing, senior housing, assisted living, casinos
Construction loans and construction–to-permanent loans
Ground lease financing
Syndicated and participated loans
Mezzanine lending
CMBS
Multi-state/multi-property portfolio lending
Bridge lending
Private equity
Joint ventures
Credit tenant lease financing
Historic Tax Credits
New Markets Tax Credit
Bond financing
EB-5 lending
Tract residential real estate development loans
Resort development and timeshare project loans

Our lawyers have closed loans secured by property located in almost every U.S. state, Mexico, Canada, Aruba and the U.K. White and Williams stays on top of industry developments – market, legal and regulatory. We partner with clients to understand, serve and anticipate their needs, identify and mitigate risks, and close deals quickly and cost-effectively.

Leasing

We represent clients in all types of commercial real estate lease transactions, regionally and nationally, including space leases, “big box” leases, ground leases and build-to-suit leases. The range of clients we represent in these transactions includes:

Retailers and other tenants in shopping center leases
Shopping center owners
Tenants and landlords in warehouse leases
Real estate owners and investors, as landlords in office leases
Various businesses, as tenants in office leases
Lenders and rent receivers as landlords of foreclosed real estate projects of all kinds

We work closely with other members of a client’s team, including brokers, property managers, architects, construction managers and environmental consultants. We also collaborate with lawyers in the Financial Restructuring and Bankruptcy Group to represent landlords or tenants in the disposition of leases in bankruptcy proceedings.

Representative Matters

Represented national lender in a $184 million commercial/industrial multi-property portfolio loan to a major REIT that included numerous issues in both structuring and for collateral realization

Additional matters related to Real Estate Finance