Practice Strengths

Baker Hostetler's nationally recognized real estate finance lawyers have extensive experience as both lender's and borrower's counsel in transactions of all sizes involving a wide variety of real estate finance sources, including private equity funds, banks, specialty lenders, thrifts, pension funds, life insurance funds, mortgage bankers and mezzanine lenders. Our experience includes financing transactions in virtually all segments of the real estate industry, including condominium developments, general office buildings, hotels, shopping centers, assisted living/senior care facilities, apartment complexes, industrial and commercial sites, the energy sector and medical office plazas.

Our strength as counsel in financing transactions stems from the participation and support from our lawyers specializing in all aspects of  tax, entity formation, contract negotiation and drafting, environmental implications, bankruptcy and local and federal statutes and regulations.  We have broad experience in various types of lending structures, including equity financing, secured financing, participating mortgages, credit enhancement devices, hedging products, loan syndications, REITs, REMICs, TIFs and CEDAs.

Lawyers in our offices throughout the nation work closely together to produce a highly experienced and knowledgeable team for each transaction. Throughout the years, we have had the opportunity to participate in a wide variety of nationally recognized real estate development projects.

Leadership in Action

Real Estate Finance: Facilitated formation of world's largest producer of industrial packaging in just 30 days

Client: An industrial packaging company

Type of Matter: Securing $900 million financing package for our client's acquisition of the packaging operations of a European company to make our client the largest producer of industrial packaging in the world.

Our Client's Challenge: To obtain the necessary due diligence information regarding the European target's properties throughout the world while simultaneously negotiating the Credit Agreement and related security documents.

The Goal: To close on the financing and the acquisition within 30 days.

Our Strategy: Using our “One Firm” philosophy we leveraged our capabilities across the U.S. and our international contacts to negotiate and prepare the documentation necessary in each jurisdiction to secure the 37 U.S. properties and 16 foreign properties as required by the terms of the Credit Agreement.

Results: Successfully met the client's 30-day goal. Our work continues with this client as we represented it in the $550 million refinancing two years later, as well as its release of all of the mortgaged property and other secured collateral two years thereafter in connection with a $350 million refinancing.

Representative Experience: 

• Represented a major institutional lender in connection with a $273 million building loan and project loan for the construction of 3 Times Square in New York City.
• Represented a major institutional lender as a co-lender in multiple restructurings of a $550 million facility secured by hundreds of commercial, residential and hotel properties, partnership interests and other investments owned or controlled by a diversified real estate holding company and its multiple affiliates.
• Represented a major life insurance company in connection with the $225 million financing of a 52-story office building in downtown Los Angeles where the borrower was a large REIT. A major feature of the transaction was the simultaneous funding of three mezzanine loans, which required the preparation and negotiation of a multi-layered intercreditor agreement among the four lenders.
• Developed innovative financing strategies to convert existing Florida hotels with as many as 600 units into hotel condominium developments, often referred to as condotels.
• Represented lenders, investors, creditors, borrowers and debtors in multi-disciplinary workouts and bankruptcies involving real estate and other assets, including restructurings of obligations with respect to major office buildings; office, apartment and manufacturing complexes; hotel and motel chains; and golf courses.
• Represented the majority owner of more than 40 real estate partnerships that are owned in turn by a series of 250 trusts, including resolution of significant financial disagreements with minority owners.
• Assisted a large shopping center client in structuring a joint venture with an Australian partner involving the transfer of more than 15 shopping centers valued in excess of $1 billion as well as new financing for the transaction in the amount of $340 million.
• Represented DaVita Inc. in the sale-leaseback of 28 properties covering 11 states to a single investor group, the total value of the portfolio in excess of $40 million.
• Represented a lender in connection with the $139 million acquisition financing of three of the four condominium units of a 38-story office building in San Francisco's financial district. The three units (each of which consisted of approximately 10 floors) were owned by different entities affiliated with the borrower. The lender obtained a mortgage covering the borrower's interest in the underlying real property, security interests in borrower's ownership interests in the affiliated entities and security interests in the membership interests in the general partners of the tenant under a master lease.
• Represented clients in numerous international financing transactions, including related corporate and tax structuring, particularly Mexico, other areas of Latin America and the Caribbean. 

About Our Real Estate Team

Baker Hostetler's Real Estate team has a history of getting projects developed and deals done. Our firm has the multidisciplinary strengths to solve all the complex contractual, environmental and tax problems that can arise in single-use or multi-use developments. We regularly work on multimillion dollar projects, and our team includes lawyers recognized by their peers as being at the top of their game.