Our lawyers act as primary outside real estate counsel for local, national and international clients in real estate purchases and sales throughout the United States. We are also regularly engaged by other law firms and their clients to act as local counsel in transactions involving properties in Washington, Oregon, California and Alaska.
Our clients include taxable and tax-exempt investors, developers, property managers, real estate operating companies and end users.
Property types include:
Transaction sizes range from the sale of individual assets to purchases of multi-state portfolios of assets or interests in joint ventures or real estate operating companies involving properties worth more than $1 billion.
Equity and debt financing structures include special-purpose title-holding entities, traditional secured debt, participating debt, mezzanine debt, master leases, purchase options, real estate funds, real estate investment trusts and joint ventures with deal-specific control and incentive compensation arrangements.
Our familiarity with current markets saves our clients laborious and costly negotiation time by enabling the parties to focus on the most critical issues and identify the most efficient business and legal solutions. We have developed processes that streamline negotiation and documentation of the deal, satisfaction of closing conditions and consummation of the transaction. We know how to work effectively with key third parties who must perform (e.g. title companies, surveyors, appraisers, engineers, environmental consultants and local counsel) or whose needs must be anticipated and satisfied (e.g. lenders and underwriters) to ensure an efficient process.
Our real estate lawyers collaborate with our tax, finance, environmental, employment and securities lawyers across geographic boundaries and sub-disciplines to marshal a team of the necessary scale and expertise to handle even the largest and most complex real estate transfers smoothly and efficiently.
Selected Experience – Real Estate Purchases and Sales
- Represented state-owned investment fund in all purchases, sales, joint ventures and restructurings involving its $4 billion real estate portfolio, including purchases of office towers in Atlanta, Dallas, Denver, New York, Louisville, Sacramento and San Francisco; shopping centers and other retail properties in Austin, Chicago, Kauai, New York, San Jose, Seattle and Washington, D.C.; apartment complexes in Florida, New Mexico, Nevada, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, Texas and Utah; and industrial facilities in Dallas, Memphis, Anaheim, and Seattle; and its investment of approximately $800 million in multi-national infrastructure funds.
- Represented an institutional investor in its acquisition of a 50% interest in one of the largest privately held developers and managers of market-rate and affordable multi-family housing projects in the United States, with apartment complexes in 13 states and assets exceeding $3 billion.
- Represented the seller in the sale of the KOIN Center, a 34-story office and condominium tower in downtown Portland, and a foreign investment group purchasing the same property two years later.
- Represented a state investment fund in the acquisition of a controlling interest in super-regional Tysons Corner Shopping Center and adjacent retail and office properties in McLean, Virginia, and in the formation of a joint venture with a publicly traded retail REIT to acquire The Shops at North Bridge on the “Magnificent Mile” of North Michigan Avenue in Chicago.
- Represented international investor in the "off-market" acquisition of three San Francisco hotels from foreclosing lender.
- Represented a Texas public employee pension fund in the formation of joint ventures to acquire and develop multifamily residential properties in the Bahamas, Manhattan and College Station, Texas.
- Represented New York-based investment adviser and fund sponsor in the acquisition or sale of apartment complexes in California, Connecticut, Florida, Kansas, Massachusetts, Tennessee, Texas and Virginia.
- Negotiated land purchase from the Santa Clara Valley Transit Authority for the development of a LEED certified, high-density, mixed use, transit-oriented development with approximately 800 residential units, including acquisition of entitlements, contracting and environmental matters; and negotiation of disposition and development agreements with the Transit Authority.
- Represented an Alaska Native organization in the sale of a large tract of undeveloped property to the American Land Conservancy and the Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation for preservation of the lands, including the formation of a public-private partnership for eventual transfer of the land to the State of Alaska park system, using funding from various sources including the Exxon Valdez Oil Spill Trust Fund.
- Represented non-profit arts foundation in its acquisition, financing and construction of 2,000 seat performing arts center in downtown Bellevue, Washington.
- Represented a national manufacturer of lumber, building materials and home components in its purchase of commercial, retail and industrial real estate throughout the U.S.
- Represented various timber companies and natural resources investors in the acquisition and disposition of timberlands in Oregon and Washington, including Section 1031 like-kind exchanges.
- Represented one of the largest banks in Alaska in its acquisition of a major office building in Anchorage.
- Represented major health care system in Southern California in its purchase of a general acute care hospital located in Tarzana, California.
- Represented an international pension fund in investments in land and mixed-use projects in downtown Seattle and Bellevue, Washington.
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