Real Estate Transactions & Finance

Overview

Locke Lord's Real Estate Transactions and Finance section is a recognized leader concentrating on real estate matters involving all property types in the United States and United Kingdom. Our attorneys recognize today's real estate transactions are increasingly complex, and timing is everything. Our attorneys represent a diversified client base in real estate transactions including real estate investment trusts, finance houses, pension funds and their advisors, private individuals and family offices, development companies, public and private university and healthcare systems, development companies, investors, homebuilders, contractors, hotel companies, commercial banks, insurance companies, savings and loan associations and finance and leasing companies. Our services include legal representation in connection with:

Acquisitions and dispositions;
Ground leasing;
Commercial leasing and subleasing;
Acquisition, development and construction financing;
Conduit loans;
Consumer Credit Act (UK) regulations;
Participating and convertible loans;
Land use, entitlements and natural resources;
Planning and regeneration;
SDLT structuring;
Development representation involving consultants, contractors, engineers, architects and joint use and access issues;
Stadium and arena naming rights;
Partnership and joint venture structuring and negotiation;
Property sales, leasing and management;
Development risk management and tax counseling;
Public and public/private improvement projects, including cost sharing, development and reimbursement agreements;
Tenant in common structures and related tax free exchanges;
Equity participations;
Defeasance transactions;
Sharia compliant transactions;
Intercreditor agreements, loan syndications, participations and subordinations;
Co-lending agreements, senior/subordinate, pari-passu;
Letters of credit and credit enhancement transactions;
LEED Certification;
Interest rate caps, swaps and collars;
Financial derivatives;
Master servicer, special servicer, REMIC issues;
DUS lending, Fannie Mae/Freddie Mac financing;
Military housing;
Campus housing;
Sale/leasebacks;
Mortgage warehousing;
Tax credits, affordable housing, new markets, historic;
Lines of credit (secured and unsecured);
Mezzanine and subordinate tranche financing; and
Workouts, foreclosures, creditor’s rights and bankruptcy.

Our attorneys regularly work on sophisticated matters in concert with talented and creative clients in connection with transactions involving raw land, residential subdivisions, offshore clients, office buildings, hotels, sports facilities, condominium projects and condo hotels, retail centers and pads, multi-family projects, bulk warehouse and service center facilities, healthcare facilities and university and military housing facilities. A few representative transactions our attorneys have been recently engaged to provide legal services in connection with include:

Represent private investor seeking to build 18,000-seat professional basketball and hockey arena in Seattle.
Representation of two real estate investment trusts in the acquisition of private development rights, the subdivision in to five ground leasehold estates and related matters involving the south 92.5 acres of the Meadowlands Sports Complex in New Jersey. The rights obtained included 2.7 million square feet of entertainment/retail improvements, 900,000 square feet of office improvements, a 500,000 square foot hotel and a minor league ballpark.
Acting for U.S. Real Estate investment Fund in connection with the negotiation of its new Eurpoean Head Office Lease in Central London; including the documentation for the fit-out and obtaining collateral warranties from the developer landlord.
Representation of national financial services company, as tenant, in numerous leases including 193,000 square foot build-to-suit office lease; various warehouse leases for 117,000 square feet, 87,000 square feet and 77,000 square feet; and various office leases for 176,000 square feet, 78,000 square feet, 62,000 square feet and 60,000 square feet.
Represented a client in connection with real estate matters arising from a nationwide development of biodiesel fuel facilities.
Served as Fannie Mae DUS Lender's counsel in connection with the closing of a $68MM tax-exempt and taxable bond financing, including federal and local tax credits, of a new multifamily high-rise development in Manhattan.
Represented international financial institution’s role as servicer of national loan portfolios and the securitization of those loan portfolios, aggregating more than $2 billion in outstandings at one time.
Representation of purchaser of nine industrial warehouse properties containing approximately 2,000,000 square feet, including loan assumptions for several of the properties.
Representation of developer of 600+ acre master planned residential community in Texas, including land acquisition, negotiation of debt and equity financing, formation of homeowners' association and related covenants, conditions and restrictions and negotiation of sale of lots to builders.
Transitioned a money center bank’s mortgage warehouse lending group through termination of several billion dollar master repurchase agreements with zero principal losses for the client, notwithstanding bankruptcy filings by all but one of their mortgage repo line customers.
Lead environmental counsel for the preparation of an environmental impact statement and obtaining the necessary environmental clearances for a major tollway project in Texas.
Represented the international underwriter of a series of military housing privatization bonds in a transaction spanning 11 military installations across five states.
Represented the purchaser in multi-million dollar multifamily project portfolios in the South and Southeast.
Represented a publicly traded gas utility company in connection with its $1 billion syndicated credit facility.
Represented placement agent in connection with the issuance of $585MM in taxable revenue bonds to privatize, renovate and construct military housing units at 11 military installations located in five states in the southeastern United States.
Represented the master servicer of two related REMIC pools in connection with the creation of a synthetic condominium in a 1.6 million square foot office building in Manhattan.
Representation of major real estate company since 2002 in connection with its nationwide office leasing program covering, over time, 80 separate buildings.
Representation of national drug store chain in the development of over 100 drug store locations throughout the Midwest, including acquisitions, ground leases and entitlement matters.
Representation of several institutional property owners in the leasing and related ownership issues for 15 major office buildings in downtown Chicago.
Representation of national bank, as tenant, in the leasing of over 30 retail banking locations, including both ground leases and conventional leases.
Acquisition of office investment for offshore client and complex financing arrangements.
Refinancing mixed portfolio for UK investor client.
Acquisition and finance (including SDLT structuring) of development site in London for an offshore client (introduced to main finance source).
Acquisition of development site in Northwest England (and introduction to main finance source) for development as 300-400 units.
Sales of various commercial property investments for UK client.
Acquisition of Central London office building for redevelopment as residential (55 units), offices and retail (including introduction to source of bridging finance).
Acting for UK Bank on finance of purchase of trading property company with large portfolio (working with Banking and Corporate Teams on relevant aspects).
Acquisition of land and buildings from which Tooting Market trades. This involved dealing with the employment and other business-related aspects and also the statutory and other protections enjoyed by operating markets.
Advised private family group on the acquisition of a chain of belting shops (circa 50 units) with another similar size operation, restructuring of finance and associated corporate and real estate work.
Acquisition of commercial investments by UK, private investor in an off-shore structure to accommodate an Israeli Fund co-investing within the joint venture.
Representation of real estate developer in the development of a shopping center in suburban Chicago including all aspects of land acquisition, financing, reciprocal easements and leasing.
Representation of quasi-federal bank, as tenant and sub-subtenant, in connection with a leasing and sub-subleasing of 63,000 square feet of office space in a major downtown Chicago office building, including negotiation of various consents and recognition agreements with the building owner, the sub-landlord and the sub-sublandlord.
Representation of Sears, Roebuck & Company in connection with its relocation of its world headquarters from the Sears (now Willis) Tower to new location. Lou spearheaded the land assemblages for two potential sites and the acquisition, zoning and development the selected 800-acre parcel in suburban Chicago. The site has since become a mixed use development that houses the Sears world headquarters and many other commercial buildings.
Lead counsel for the acquisition by a State Pension Fund of what was then the largest portfolio of non-performing loans and properties to date.
Lead counsel for the relocation of the national headquarters of Sara Lee Corporation, a project that involved the acquisition of a new research and development facility in suburban Chicago.
Leasing representation for an office building complex containing over one million square feet of rentable area.
Represented a nonprofit borrower in connection with a $63MM tax-exempt bond financing of a new continuing care retirement community.
Represented an international financial institution in the creation of separate loan programs for various groups of independent distributors of nationally branded products, including the design and implementation of middle-market commercial loan documents.
Represented an international bank providing $30 million in letters of credit for bonds issued by government-created entities for the benefit of a not-for-profit hospital.
Represented an international bank as agent for lenders providing credit facilities aggregating $365 million for an American mortgage servicer and its Canadian affiliate, secured by mortgage servicing rights, servicing advances, mortgage loans, accounts receivable and receivables from the Department of Veterans Affairs.
Representation of purchaser of five shopping centers containing approximately 775,000 square feet of retail space, including loan assumptions for certain of the properties.
Represented Fannie Mae DUS Lender in a $68MM low income housing tax credit project conversion from construction to permanent loan in New York City.
Represented a Chicago-based company in a $34MM sale/leaseback transaction for the development of a new headquarters building.
Represented an international syndication agent and lead lender on a $300MM syndicated secured commercial line of credit.
Represented an international letter of credit/credit enhancement provider of $50MM in tax-exempt and taxable bonds for the refinancing of an existing continuing care retirement facility.
Represented an institutional construction lender on a series of syndicated construction loans ($70MM/$42MM,) for the development of a multi-phase continuing care retirement facility.
Represented the syndication agent and lead lender on a $115MM club deal for the acquisition of a public company and associated working lines of credit.
Structured the purchase and sale of significant farm and ranch properties with specified highly technical retained and conveyed groundwater rights.
Assisted a national developer in the acquisition of land for the development of a 650,000 square foot shopping center. Served as the developer's lead counsel in the second phase of the shopping center's "lease-up," negotiating leases and ground leases with a variety of local and national tenants.
Represented a national junior department store in its leasing activities throughout the United States, assisting in the leasing of over 50 locations representing nearly 1,000,000 square feet of leasable area.
Developed a structure for building a series of affordable housing projects that eliminates certain state and local sales and use taxes on the construction materials, thereby significantly reducing each project’s cost.
Handled environmental aspects of stock and asset purchases for multimillion dollar acquisition of television stations across the country.
Counsel on potential civil and criminal liability resulting from alleged discharge of pollutants from passenger ship into Lake Michigan.
Conducted an ongoing environmental audit for Illinois EPA.
Assisted USEPA to significantly reduce civil penalties imposed against client for alleged hazardous waste handling, storage and labeling violations
Overseeing and counseling on obtaining appropriate authorizations from the U. S. Army Corps of Engineers for a project impacting significant portions of waters of the U.S., including wetlands.
Provided legal oversight on the air permitting of a landfill gas extraction system.
National environmental counsel for multifamily, senior residential developers, and industrial developers. This includes handling and directing all their environmental work throughout the country, including Phase I environmental site assessments, remediation, interaction with agencies, and permitting.
Represented a national bank in extending a $60MM unsecured credit facility to a public company that provides health care institutions with software and information solutions.
Represented a national bank in the defeasance of loans secured by commercial property located throughout the United States.
Represented a publicly traded electronic global commodity and financial products exchange in connection with its $500 million syndicated senior credit facilities.
Represented a multi-state furniture retailer in connection with its $120 million secured revolving credit facility.
Represented a national insurance brokerage firm in connection with its $30 million senior secured credit facilities.
Represented a multi-state temporary staffing company in connection with its $7.4 million secured credit facilities.
Represented an international bank as lead lender and administrative agent in connection with the making and syndication of a $115MM construction loan for a high-rise luxury condominium project.
Represented a major international building products company in the negotiation of a 170,000 square foot build-to-suit lease for its new U.S. headquarters in a LEED Certified office building.
Ongoing representation of New York based developer in three high profile land assemblage and development projects in the mid-Atlantic states.
Representation of lender client in financing of wetlands bank created to allow offsets for wetlands disturbed in the course of development elsewhere in Virginia.
Representation of borrower client in connection with work out of acquisition and interim financing of large flex office / research condominium project in Montgomery County, Maryland.

Real Estate Transactions & Finance

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