Andrew Lance

Andrew A. Lance is a partner in Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher’s Real Estate Practice Group. He is resident in the New York office, where he is a member of Gibson Dunn’s Compensation Committee and Head of the Real Estate Practice Group’s Hotel and Hospitality Practice. Andy also served as co-partner in charge of the New York office from 2017 to 2023. His clients include private real estate equity funds, hedge funds, sovereign wealth funds, corporate and individual developers and owners, mortgage and mezzanine lenders, REITs and other public and privately held companies investing in or using real estate. Andy also represents many not-for-profit organizations, particularly those building charter schools and involved in the performing arts. His practice includes acquisitions, sales, leasing and financing of office, retail, hotel, industrial, recreational, professional sports and entertainment real estate, origination of mortgage and mezzanine loans and construction loans, real estate joint ventures and other ownership structures, master leases, sale-leasebacks and ground leases, and private and public-private ground leased and fee-owned development projects, as well as restructuring of complex debt structures and of equity interests in development ventures, and enforcement of remedies and realization on collateral by lenders in such projects.

Andy is a member of the American College of Real Estate Lawyers and a fellow of the American College of Mortgage Attorneys. He is ranked as a leading Real Estate lawyer by Chambers USA: America’s Leading Lawyers for Business. Chambers USA described him as “extremely knowledgeable,” “an incredibly intelligent practitioner who is particularly good in negotiations” and “he just knows everything and everyone in the industry, and has a very calming demeanor about him that people on both sides like to work with.” He is “very experienced in complex real estate transactions and very plugged in to the New York market” with his “vast transactional experience.” In addition, Andy is recognized by Law360 as an “MVP” in the Hospitality category, is listed in The Best Lawyers in America^®, New York Magazine’s “New York Area’s Best Lawyers” edition, Lawdragon's 500 Leading Global Real Estate Lawyers, and The International Who’s Who of Business Lawyers. He is recommended by Who’s Who Legal Hospitality and Who's Who Legal Real Estate recognizes him as a "Global Elite Thought Leader” on behalf of “international equity and hedge funds on an array of major developments in New York and beyond.” Andy was recognized by Legal 500 as a “big player in the complex field of mezzanine and preferred equity financing techniques.” Andy was the lead attorney for the transactions that won the Real Estate Board of New York’s Most Creative Retail Deal of the Year Award twice: the lease by Hard Rock Café of the former World Wrestling Entertainment site at Times Square (2004), and the lease by Walgreens of the entire building at One Times Square (2007).

Andy joined Gibson Dunn in March 1999. He previously practiced law as special counsel with Sullivan & Cromwell in New York from 1984 to 1993. Andy was a consultant to McKinsey & Company on their facilities leasing worldwide. Andy is an adjunct professor at New York Law School, and has been a visiting lecturer at Yale Law School and a lecturer at the New York University Schack Institute of Real Estate. Andy also is a frequent lecturer. He has been co-chair of the annual Hotel Law and Practice program of the Practising Law Institute, and his speaking engagements include a Council on Foreign Relations teleconference on “Investing Capital in Real Estate in the Current Economic Climate,” at the Real Estate Investment World Latin American Conference on “Evolution of Private Equity Transactions in Latin America,” and as a plenary speaker at the 2019 meeting of the American College of Real Estate Lawyers on “Workouts in the Age of Capital Stacks.”

Andy earned his Juris Doctor in 1983 from Yale Law School, where he was a member of the Yale Law Journal. He earned a Bachelor of Arts cum laude in 1980 from Princeton University and attended the University of Paris. Andy was a Fellow of the Coro Foundation Leadership New York Program.

Andy has been honored twice, in 2004 and 2009, by the Alliance of Resident Theatres/New York, the service organization for not-for-profit performing arts organizations in New York City, for his support for A.R.T./New York and its member organizations. He joined the Board of A.R.T./New York in 2004, and is the former head of their Audit Committee, which he formed in 2005.

Andy’s practice focuses on the following areas:

Real estate capital markets, transactional and finance matters, including rated commercial real estate structured financings, multistate mortgage financings, mezzanine financing, management and finance.

Representative Transactions

• Caerus Group: Representation of Caerus Group in connection with a $30.5 million fixed-rate loan from Argentic to finance a portfolio of two repositioned office properties totaling 65,000 square feet, located at 74 Kent Street in Greenpoint, Brooklyn and 11-20 46th Road in Long Island City, Queens.
• Wells Fargo Bank, N.A.: Representation of Wells Fargo Bank in connection with $1.5 billion of construction financing to SL Green Realty Trust for its proposed One Vanderbilt office tower, a 67-story, 1.73 million-square-foot, state-of-the-art office tower on a one-acre full city block bordered by Madison and Vanderbilt Avenues and 42nd and 43rd Streets, adjacent to Grand Central Terminal in Midtown Manhattan.
• Wells Fargo Bank, N.A.: Representation of Wells Fargo Bank in connection with $750 million in financing to Brookfield Property Partners LP for 1 Water Street, also known as One New York Plaza, a 50 story office and retail tower with 2.5 million square feet of office space and 38,000 square feet of retail, located in New York City’s Financial District.
• Virgin: Representation of Virgin in connection with $222 million of construction financing from Shanghai Commercial Bank Ltd. for the development of Virgin’s first New York hotel, a 463-room hotel in the North of Madison Square Park area of Manhattan.
• Fortress Credit Co. LLC: Representation of Fortress Investment Group affiliate, Fortress Credit Co., in connection with the origination of a $115 million floating-rate mortgage loan providing acquisition financing for a pair of adjacent properties that will be home to a retail and office development which will be Brooklyn’s tallest skyscraper (340 Flatbush Avenue Extension and 9 DeKalb Avenue, Brooklyn, New York).
• Wells Fargo Bank, N.A.: Representation of Wells Fargo Bank in connection with the origination of a $300 million floating-rate loan to Blackstone backed by River North Point, which encompasses two buildings with 1.3 million square feet of office space and 437,000 square feet leased to a hotel in Chicago’s River North neighborhood (350 North Orleans Street, Chicago, Illinois).
• Wells Fargo Bank, N.A.: Representation of Wells Fargo Bank in connection with a $500 million loan to finance the acquisition of 55 West 46^th Street in New York City.
• Wells Fargo Bank, N.A.: Representation of Wells Fargo Bank (and syndicate banks) in the origination and administration of a $1.25 billion construction loan for the One Manhattan West project located at 401 9th Avenue on the West Side of Manhattan, entailing a 69-story, 2.1-million square-foot office tower, anchored by a long term lease with the Skadden Arps law firm. The transaction included arranging, originating and syndicating the loan to a group of 20 of the market’s preeminent commercial real estate lenders, as well as navigating complex master lease and IDA/PILOT structures.
• Wells Fargo Bank, N.A.: Representation of Wells Fargo Bank in connection with the construction and renovation financing of Brookfield Asset Management's 5.4 million square foot multi-building office-hotel-retail-residential development to be known as "5 Manhattan West" in Hudson Yards District of New York City.
• Marriott International, Inc.: Representation of Marriott in connection with Brookfield Asset Management’s refinancing of the Atlantis Resort, Nassau, Bahamas, and a franchise agreement for the resort to join Marriott’s Autograph Collection. Marriott provided a $100 million junior loan to Brookfield as part of the $1.9 billion recapitalization of the hotel and gambling destination.
• Marriott International, Inc.: Represented Marriott in connection with the approximate $1 billion refinancing of financing on three resorts with 2,530 rooms: the JW Marriott Desert Ridge Resort in Phoenix, AZ; the Ritz-Carlton Orlando in Orlando, FL; and the JW Marriott Orlando at the Grande Lakes, Orlando, FL.
• Marriott International Inc.: Representation of Marriott in a structured subordinate cash flow guarantee of six different luxury hotel, retail and condominium mixed-use developments in New York, Boston and Washington, D.C. as Ritz-Carlton properties.
• Confidential equity investor: Representation of the largest equity investor in a joint venture with Related Companies, JPMorgan Chase and Oxford Property Group, to provide $1.4 billion in equity investments and debt financing to the Hudson Yards retail, office and residential redevelopment project on Manhattan’s West Side.
• Wells Fargo Bank, N.A.: Representation of Wells Fargo Bank in the origination of a large mortgage loan with future advance components secured by the former New York Times building in Times Square (229 West 43rd Street, New York, New York).
• Deutsche Bank and PCCP, LLC: Representation of Deutsche Bank and PCCP in connection with a participating loan secured by a portfolio of 17 properties in California and Arizona.
• Deutsche Bank: Representation of Deutsche Bank in the purchase of a defaulted mortgage loan on 3 Columbus Circle, a retail and residential development site in New York City, and in amending the loan to facilitate future development.
• Gulf Capital: Representation of Gulf Capital, an Abu Dhabi private equity firm, in forming a joint venture with Related Companies, based in New York, to build mixed-use property developments in the MENA region. The new venture, Gulf Related, has its headquarters in Abu Dhabi.
• Wachovia: Representation of Wachovia in providing preferred equity financing for the $160 million acquisition of the ground lease on, and redevelopment of, the retail areas within Union Station in Washington, D.C., by Ashkenazy Acquisition Corporation.
• CTF: Representation of this international hotel company as owner and sponsor in its $400 million, multistate, 15 hotel, cross-collateralized rated portfolio debt securitization.
• Prudential Insurance Company Mortgage: Representation of Prudential in the origination of a multistate mortgage financing of 68 retail shopping center anchor stores.

Sales and purchase transactions and development acquisition and finance, including hotel development, condominium construction and joint venture agreements among development partners.

Representative Transactions

• MSD Partners: Representation of MSD Partners in connection with the acquisition of Boca Raton Resort & Spa. The property is comprised of 1,047 hotel rooms across 337 acres and includes a full-service spa, three fitness centers, 18 tennis courts, 13 food and beverage outlets, an 18-hole golf course, seven swimming pools, a 32-slip marina and about 116,000 square feet of indoor meeting space.
• FREO Group: Representation of FREO Group in connection with the acquisition and financing of 11 industrial properties across Georgia and Texas, and the related drafting and negotiation of multiple complex joint venture agreements.
• Safanad, Inc.: Representation of Safanad, Inc. in connection with ground-up development of, and purchase of existing facilities for, student housing across multiple projects and states, including financing and platform joint ventures.
• MGM Resorts and MGM Growth Properties LLC: Representation of MGM Resorts and MGM Growth Properties LLC in connection with agreements for the $850 million acquisition of the real property and operations associated with Empire City Casino's race track and casino, a 97-acre property located off the New York State Thruway in southern Westchester County.
• CTF Holdings Inc.: Representation of CTF Holdings in its joint venture with Suncity Group Holdings Limited to develop a $4 billion, 2,400-acre integrated casino resort in Hoi An, Vietnam, and in connection with its related negotiation of technical services and casino management agreements.
• Caerus Group: Representation of Caerus Group in connection with its $51.7 million acquisition of a retail and office property located at 10 East 34th Street in New York City from Brause Realty.
• Rockpoint Group: Representation of Rockpoint in the $120 million acquisition, in partnership with The Feil Organization, of a majority stake in 200 West 57^th Street, a retail and office building in Manhattan, from RCG Longview.
• Pearson Partners, Inc.: Representation of Pearson Partners, Inc. in connection with the acquisition of the 288-room DoubleTree by Hilton Hotel in Little Rock, Arkansas by a partnership between Fifth Avenue Capital, a private investment firm led by principals of Pearson Partners, and Waterford Hotel Group.
• New York City Mission Society: Representation of New York City Mission Society in connection with $128 million sale of the historic, 110,000-square-foot Renaissance Revival-style United Charities Building, located at 287 Park Ave. South, in the Gramercy Park neighborhood in New York City.
• Virgin Hotels: Representation of Virgin in connection with the 38-story Virgin Hotel development at 1205-1227 Broadway between East 29th and 30th Streets in New York City. The 440,000-square-foot hotel will have 463 rooms, three restaurants, banquet space and 100,000 square feet of retail space, including 12,000 square feet of outdoor space for a restaurant tenant.
• CTF Holdings Inc.: Representation of CTF in connection with the acquisition of a 35% interest in Cidade Matarazzo, a mixed-use super luxury retail, conference center, hotel and residential development project in São Paulo, Brazil.
• Marriott International, Inc.: Representation of Marriott in connection with the development of the Times Square EDITION hotel at 701 Seventh Avenue, a mixed use hotel development consisting of 452 guest rooms, in conjunction with 100,000 square feet of flagship retail, dining, entertainment and event space, as well an 18,000 sq. ft. high definition LED sign—one of the largest in the world.
• Rockpoint Group: Representation of Rockpoint in the acquisition of an approximately 50% interest in 1345 Avenue of the Americas and 605 Third Avenue, New York, from National Bulk Carriers, Inc. The buildings contain approximately 3,000,000 square feet of retail and office space, and in the subsequent sale of those interests to an affiliate of JPMorgan Chase.
• Madison Capital: Representation of Madison Capital in connection with the $26 million purchase, followed by ground-up development, of a 6,190-square foot lot located at 19 East Houston Street in the SoHo area of Manhattan from the Metropolitan Transportation Authority and under the management of the New York City Economic Development Corporation.
• Deutsche Bank: Representation of Deutsche Bank in connection with the sale of 856,000 square feet of office space, the retail concourse, the landmark observatory and antennae, and a 700-space parking deck that are part of the John Hancock Center in Chicago for over $400 million in the aggregate in a series of separate interest sales.
• Rockpoint Group: Representation of Rockpoint in connection with the $250 million sale of The Flatotel, a 47-story, 700,000 square foot tower on West 52^nd street in Manhattan.
• Rockpoint Group: Representation of Rockpoint in the acquisition of an 80% interest in 1440 Broadway, a 734,000-square-foot building in Manhattan, from Prudential Real Estate Investors and in the subsequent sale of that interest to American Realty Capital’s New York Recovery REIT.
• Rockpoint Group: Representation of Rockpoint in connection with Atlas Capital Group’s $69 million, or $368,984 per room acquisition of the Eastgate Tower Hotel, a 187-key property located in Manhattan, from a Rhode Island-based hospitality company.
• Rockpoint Group: Representation of Rockpoint in connection with the acquisition of four Poconos resorts and related financing.
• Rockpoint Group: Representation of Rockpoint in the $275 million acquisition, in partnership with Goldman Sachs’s real estate principal investment operation and Highgate Holdings, of the 665-room Manhattan at Times Square Hotel in New York City from Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide, Inc., and in the $530 million sale of the hotel to Qatar’s Al Rayyan Tourism and Investment Company.
• FelCor Lodging Trust Inc.: Representation as co-counsel to FelCor Lodging in connection with its acquisition of a majority stake in Manhattan’s Knickerbocker Hotel from an affiliate of Highgate Holdings LLC, and its acquisition and public bond financing of the Morgans and Royalton hotels in Manhattan.
• FelCor: Representation of FelCor in negotiation of a management agreement with Fairmont in connection with FelCor’s purchase of the Copley Plaza Hotel in Boston.
• Rockpoint Group: Representation of Rockpoint in the acquisition, in partnership with Highgate Holdings, of the 1,300-key Milford Plaza Hotel, occupying an entire blockfront at 700 Eighth Avenue in Manhattan’s Theatre District.
• Rockpoint Real Estate Funds: Representation of Rockpoint Real Estate Funds in the purchase of partial interests in Class A office buildings at 299 Park Avenue and at Park Avenue Plaza, in New York City under management by, and in partnership with, Fisher Brothers, and in the subsequent sale of those interests to affiliates of, respectively, Soho House (China) and the State of Alaska Trust Fund.
• Tatweer: Representation of Tatweer in connection with the development in Dubai of the Tiger Woods Dubai golf course and academy, clubhouse and luxury residences.
• Sol Melia: Sale and license back by Sol Melia to Wyndham of the TRYP Hotel chain, composed of approximately 14,000 keys, and related hotel assets.
• Capital partners and the development venture: Representation of the capital partners and the development venture in the 99-year ground lease of 330 Hudson from Trinity Church for construction of a LEED-certified hotel, office and retail tower.
• Buyer: Representation of the buyer of Independence Plaza, a more than 1,300 unit residential and retail Mitchell-Lama development in the Tribeca section of Manhattan, in the purchase of the development, withdrawal of the development from the Mitchell-Lama program, the initial mortgage financing and serial senior mortgage and mezzanine loan refinancings, including interest rate cap agreements.
• Buyer: Representation of the buyer of the 12-building, 1,232-unit Riverton residential community in upper Manhattan, including both bridge financing and permanent mortgage financing.
• Square Mile Capital: Formation of a joint venture with Taconic Partners to acquire the Knickerbocker regulated residential apartment complex in Manhattan.
• Square Mile Capital: Formation of the joint venture to acquire, renovate and finance a 1 million square foot commercial condominium at 375 Pearl Street in lower Manhattan.
• National RE/Sources: Acquisition and redevelopment of the 68-acre former Unilever research campus in Edgewater, New Jersey, for mixed commercial and residential uses.
• Lehman Brothers: Representation of a private equity fund in the acquisition of an interest in Tishman Hotels & Resorts, including hotels in Times Square, New York City, Chicago and Orlando, Florida.
• Rockpoint Group: Representation of the seller of a portfolio of five office buildings in Massachusetts for a price in excess of $140 million, and defeasance of bonds secured by the portfolio upon sale.
• Apollo Real Estate Fund IV: Representation of Apollo Real Estate Fund IV in the acquisition, through a joint venture, and redevelopment and leasing of iPark Lake Success, a 1.4 million square foot mixed-use facility in Lake Success, New York.
• ENK International, Inc.: Redevelopment for the country’s leading high-end fashion trade show operator as developer of a City-owned pier on the Hudson River as a more than 200,000 square foot public and trade show facility, including obtaining a designation from the City of New York and negotiation of leasehold site acquisition terms and public incentives.

Public-private development projects, including lease and purchase of real estate from municipalities, tax-advantaged bond financing, economic development and job retention incentives, affordable housing acquisition and development, franchise and licensing rights, responses to RFPs and other transactions between municipal government and private parties.

Representative Transactions

• Rockpoint Group: Representation of Rockpoint Group in a joint venture with Brooksville Company, a residential real estate firm, in the purchase of Spring Creek Towers, formerly known as Starrett City, the largest affordable housing community in the United States. The complex, which includes 5,881 apartments and a shopping center, sits on a 153-acre site near Jamaica Bay in Brooklyn, New York, and includes 46 buildings for 15,000 residents. Built in the 1970s, Spring Creek Towers has its own power plant, schools, recreation center and ZIP code.
• New York Arena Partners: Representation of New York Arena Partners in the development of a new arena for the New York Islanders professional ice hockey team, on land to be leased from Empire State Development, together with development of a fashion retail center, an event retail complex, extensive infrastructure and decked parking.
• Manhattan Country School: Represented Manhattan Country School in senior secured construction loan facility comprised of a hybrid tax-exempt bond issuance and multi-draw term loan to refinance an existing bridge loan and finance the expansion and renovation of the school's campus.
• Saint Ann’s School: Representation Saint Ann’s School in the credit facility comprised of a hybrid tax-exempt bond issuance and multi-draw term loan provided by Build NYC Resource Corporation to finance the expansion and renovation of its campus located in Brooklyn, New York.
• New York Wheel: Representation of the New York Wheel in a dispute with Mammoet-Starneth LLC, the design-build contractor, over construction of one of the largest observation wheels in the world, in St George, Staten Island.
• Green Ivy Holdings, LLC: Representation of Green Ivy Holdings, LLC in an 85,000 square foot lease for a school on five floors of 40 Wall Street in New York City.
• Harlem RBI and Dream Charter School: Representation of Harlem RBI and Dream Charter School in connection with construction of The East Harlem Center for Living and Learning. The $78.5 million development located on East 104th Street will be comprised of the DREAM Charter School, 89 units of mixed-income housing and a nonprofit office and community facility space.
• California Science Center Foundation: Representation of California Science Center Foundation in connection with drafting and negotiating agreements with NASA, the City of Los Angeles, United Airlines and the City of Inglewood, and a CEQA lawsuit settlement agreement with various neighborhood councils, among others, to secure the space shuttle’s title transfer, flight from Kennedy Space Center, temporary storage at LAX and parade through Los Angeles and Inglewood in mid-October 2012 to its final destination, the California Science Center in Exposition Park.
• Madison Square Garden: Representation of Madison Square Garden in pursuing the acquisition and development of the MTA’s West Side Rail Yard, including litigation and advice concerning legislation before the New York City Council and the New York State Legislature and the actions of numerous public authorities.
• Forest City Ratner: Representation of a major private developer in the more than $600 million tax exempt serial note issuance financing of the new Kings County (Brooklyn) Family Courthouse at 330 Jay Street in Brooklyn, which includes an additional five-story commercial office space as a separate condominium interest.
• Roundabout Theatre Company: Representation of Roundabout Theatre in the acquisition, tax-exempt bond financing and redevelopment of the former Studio 54 site in Manhattan for use as a legitimate theater.
• Signature Theatre Company: Representation of the Signature Theatre Company in complex negotiations with multiple private and municipals funding parties regarding the design, purchase and construction financing, including a City of New York capital grant, of an approximately 70,000 square foot full floor commercial condominium premises, including three theaters, rehearsal space, lobby and office space in the mixed-use MiMA development by Related Companies on West 42nd Street.
• Condominium associations: Representation of the condominium associations in Battery Park City in negotiating concessions under their leases with Battery Park City Authority necessitated by the events of September 11, 2001.
• Alliance of Resident Theatres/New York: Funding and construction by Alliance of Resident Theatres/New York of a full floor shared space for performing arts organizations, which was one of the first leased premises to receive a New York City capital grant, and of two new theaters in the Chelsea section of Manhattan.
• New charter schools: Acquisition, development and financing of new charter schools in Manhattan, Brooklyn, Bedford-Stuyvesant, Crown Heights, New York, Troy, New York, and Newark, New Jersey, including use of New Markets Tax Credits, on behalf of the Robin Hood Foundation, Excellence Academies, Achievement First, Uncommon Schools, PAVE, Harlem Village Academies, Harlem RBI, Civic Builders, KIPP, Success Academies and others.
• Coney Island Museum USA and Ringside, Inc.: Representation of Coney Island Museum USA and Ringside, Inc. (home to Elizabeth Streb’s dance company, STREB Laboratory for Action Mechanics) in the acquisition and financing of their respective facilities in Brooklyn, New York.
• Manhattan Neighborhood Network and Guttmacher Institute: Representation of Manhattan Neighborhood Network and Guttmacher Institute in the tax-exempt bond financing of acquisition of their headquarters facilities.

Restructuring of the debt and equity positions in real estate development projects, resort hotels and other real estate investments, including both for the owner/developer and for the lender. Such engagements include loan extensions, forbearance agreements, deeds in lieu, UCC and real property foreclosure, modification of ground leases, bankruptcy advice and the purchase and sale of distressed debt, as well as disputes among members in owner entities including activation of buy-sell provisions.

Representative Transactions

• Representation of dozens of borrowers in seeking and obtaining loan forbearance or modification agreements from portfolio lenders and CMBS servicers in response to the new coronavirus crisis, including deferral of interest payments, access to reserves and relief from reserve funding obligations, modification of financial covenants and cash trap triggers, and consent to SBA loans.
• Representing Deutsche Bank’s Special Situations Group in the successful contested acquisition of the fulcrum position in the capital stack for the John Hancock Tower in Chicago, followed by division of the building into separate components by use (retail, office, observatory, antenna, etc.) and eventual sale of each of the individual components to different buyers, all pursuant to a forbearance and cooperation agreement with the original sponsor.
• Representing Deutsche Bank’s Special Situations Group in acquisition of the defaulted mortgage debt on Three Columbus Circle, a retail and residential development in Manhattan, and initiation of a repositioning plan with The Related Companies, resulting in a payoff of the debt in full.
• Soros Fund Management and Och-Ziff Capital Management: Representation of Soros Fund Management and Och-Ziff Capital Management in connection with the acquisition of a syndicated $320 million interest as lenders in a $1.2 billion senior construction facility for the American Dream project in New Jersey, a massive retail/entertainment complex in East Rutherford, NJ (project formerly known as Xanadu).
• Grossman Cos.: Representation of Grossman in connection with retiring $190 million of CMBS debt against its 640-unit Arizona Grand Resort & Spa in Phoenix with proceeds from $88 million of financing provided by Prime Finance Inc. and Marathon Asset Management.
• Wells Fargo Bank, N.A.: Representation of Wells Fargo Bank, as senior mortgage lender, in restructuring substantial debt stack secured by property located at 450 West 33rd Street in Manhattan.
• Goldman Sachs: Representation of Goldman Sachs as lender to a private equity fund in the acquisition of a junior mezzanine loan, resolution of the senior mezzanine and mortgage loan, and acquisition of title to two commercial properties in Manhattan, one on Fifth Avenue and one on lower Broadway.
• Purchase and sale of performing, subperforming and nonperforming real estate mortgage and mezzanine loans, both individually and in portfolios, including representation of the purchaser from Citibank of the mortgage secured by the Wigwam Resort and Biltmore golf courses in Phoenix, Arizona, through an auction sale under Section 363 of the Bankruptcy Code; of the purchaser from Anglo-Irish Bank of defaulted mortgages secured by the Alex Hotel and the Flatotel Hotel in New York City; and of the owners of the Arizona Grand Resort in Phoenix, Arizona, in an A/B Note restructuring with CW Capital.
• Debt and equity investor: Restructuring of the financing of a luxury residential development, in the Northwest United States, capitalized at over $100 million in which our client was a debt and equity investor.
• Debt and equity investor: Restructuring of the financing of a luxury residential development in the Southeast United States, capitalized at over $120 million in which our client was a debt and equity investor.
• Restructuring of the terms and development programming for several development projects, each budgeted in the hundreds of millions of dollars, in Manhattan underground leases with both public agencies and private ground lessors.

Leasing, including high-rise office leases, large format and other retail leases (including restaurant leases and national brand locations), industrial and warehouse leases, ground leases, sale-leasebacks and credit-lease financings.

Representative Transactions

• Alexandria Real Estate Equities, Inc.: Represented Alexandria Real Estate Equities, Inc., an urban office REIT, in connection with the pre- development and ground lease of the North Tower at the Alexandria Center® for Life Science in New York City. The project located along the East Side Medical Corridor will add 550,000 square feet to the development’s already existing 728,000 square foot East and West Towers which upon completion of the North Tower, will result in a nearly 1.3 million square foot life sciences campus.
• New York Quarterly Meeting of the Religious Society of Friends: Representation of the New York Quarterly Meeting of the Religious Society of Friends in the independence establishment of the Friends Seminary in Manhattan, including ground leases and sharing agreements with respect to allocation of use of their landmark campus.
• Macmillan Publishers: Representation of Macmillan Publishers in connection with the 261,000-square-foot lease located at 120 Broadway in Lower Manhattan.
• Steinway Musical Instruments, Inc.: Representation of Steinway Musical Instruments, Inc. in connection with the 15-year, 40,501-square-foot deal for a new ground floor showroom and retail space and 33rd floor offices at 1133 Avenue of the Americas.
• Alexandria Real Estate Equities: Representation of Alexandria Real Estate Equities in dozens of laboratory, research and office space leases to numerous life science, bio-technology and pharmaceutical tenants in two towers at the Alexandria Center for Life Science on Manhattan’s East Side.
• Jamestown Equities: Representation of the lessor of the entire building of One Times Square, where the New Year’s Eve ball drops in New York City, to Walgreens, with significant illuminated signage rights. The Real Estate Board of New York gave this transaction its award for “Most Creative Retail Deal of 2007.”
• Jamestown Equities: Representation of the owner of Chelsea Market in numerous retail leases for apparel, restaurant and home furnishings leases in this landmarked, iconic destination location, as well as in leases to Google, Oxygen Media, Food Network and others for office and studio space.
• Hard Rock Café: Representation of Hard Rock Café in their acquisition of World Wrestling’s leasehold in Times Square as a new flagship location in New York and surrender of their long-standing lease on West 57^th Street. The Real Estate Board of New York gave this transaction its award for “Most Creative Retail Deal of 2004.” Also handled a separate representation for an exterior illuminated signage license in Times Square.
• Macmillan Inc.: Representation of Macmillan Inc., its predecessor Holtzbrinck Publishers, the U.S. subsidiary of German media giant Verlagsgruppe Georg von Holtzbrinck and parent of St. Martin’s Press and other publishers, and many of its affiliates, in connection with numerous office leases including the lease of 157,500 square feet of space in the 180,000 square foot historic Flatiron Building, a multi-floor headquarters location in One New York Plaza, and numerous other leases in the Flatiron and Hudson Square districts of Manhattan.
• Developers Diversified Realty Corporation: Representations in connection with various shopping center acquisitions, joint ventures, financings and leasing issues.
• The Garment Center Synagogue: Representation of The Garment Center Synagogue in connection with the relocation to the northwest corner of Seventh Avenue and 40th Street.
• CVC Capital Partners: Representation of CVC Capital Partners in connection with the renewal and expansion of office leases at 712 Fifth Avenue in Manhattan and with new leases in San Francisco..
• Weight Watchers International: Representation of Weight Watchers International in their New York headquarters lease of 125,000 square feet of office space at 675 Avenue of the Americas in Manhattan.
• 505 LaGuardia Place: Representation of the 505 LaGuardia Place Mitchell-Lama residential cooperative in connection with the renegotiation and perpetual extension of its ground lease with New York University (NYU) and the settlement of land use disputes related to NYU’s 2031 expansion plan.
• Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher: Representation of Gibson Dunn in the renewal for a 20-year term of their lease from Tishman Speyer Properties of multiple floors at 200 Park Avenue, New York, New York, the expansion to additional floors in that building, and in connection with office leases in San Francisco, Washington, D.C. and Singapore.
• DO Something!: Representation of DO Something! in their lease of the eighth floor at 19 West 21st Street in Manhattan.
• Infor: Representation of Infor in the negotiation of their multi-floor headquarters lease, and build out of their space, at 635 and 641 Avenue of the Americas in Manhattan.
• 330 Hudson Street: Ground lease of premises at 330 Hudson Street in lower Manhattan from Trinity Church for development of a several hundred thousand square foot mixed-use retail, office and boutique hotel.
• WCL Academy: Representation of WCL Academy in the lease of two full buildings for development as a for-profit elementary school in lower Manhattan.
• Kingdon Capital: Office and trading area lease for a hedge fund of 150,000 square feet over several floors in Carnegie Hall Tower, Manhattan.
• Grace Church: Representation of the landmark Grace Church in the City of New York in a ground lease and space lease to the Grace Church School in formation.
• Apollo Real Estate: Representation of the landlord in leasing space at iPark Lake Success for The New York Times’ 164,000 square foot regional distribution center; the New York Mercantile Exchange’s 40,000 square foot back up trading facility; Aetna Insurance Company’s 82,000 square foot regional claims center; and LA Fitness’ 100,000 square foot flagship New York sports club location.
• Atlantic Theater Company: Representation of Atlantic Theater Company in the surrender of their leased office, studio and performance space and the long-term lease and construction of replacement office, studio and performance space at 111 Eighth Avenue in Manhattan’s Chelsea district.
• Undisclosed development partner: Representation of one of the development partners in connection with a 150-year ground lease of the landmark Stanhope Hotel in Manhattan for redevelopment into a luxury leasehold cooperative.
• Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts: Representation of Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts in the lease of the David Rubenstein Atrium to a first-class restaurant operator.
• Undisclosed landlord: Representation of the landlord of 1250 Broadway in a lease of the top floor in a midtown Manhattan office building to a first-class restaurant operator.

Capabilities

• Real Estate
• Betting and Gaming
• Finance
• Land Use and Development
• Life Sciences
• Real Estate Investment Trust (REIT)

Credentials

Education:

• Yale University - 1983 Juris Doctor
• Princeton University - 1980 Bachelor of Arts

Admissions:

• New York Bar