Distressed Real Estate
Our Real Estate team offers clients a global, multi-disciplinary, business-oriented approach to resolving issues arising from distressed real estate situations. These include workouts, loan restructurings, asset purchases, tax analysis, and bankruptcy and litigation matters.
The team’s lawyers regularly represent institutional lenders, real estate investment companies and private equity funds, special servicers, public and private developers, private equity firms, and registered investment companies in connection with assets and loans in distress. Our fully integrated network of lawyers across the United States and in Europe, Asia, Australia and the Middle East, possesses deep market experience, knowledge, and a unique presence tailored to our clients’ global interests and portfolios.
Our team is comprised of nationally ranked lawyers experienced in leading clients through volatile market disruptions and recessionary cycles, including the Great Recession and the COVID-19 economic downturn. We focus on counseling our clients to maximize their recoveries and protect their investments effectively and efficiently.
Areas of Practice
We leverage our experience in finance, corporate structuring, leasing, tax, bankruptcy, and litigation to provide counsel and offer advice to our clients in the following areas:
Real Estate Experience
- Debt restructuring and reorganization, including loan modifications, workouts and forbearance agreements
- Distressed loan acquisitions and dispositions, including purchases of mortgage loans, mezzanine loans, and related asset portfolios
- Exercise of remedies, including mortgage and mezzanine foreclosures and deed-in-lieu transfers
- Corporate structuring advice related to the formation of real estate joint ventures and special purpose investment entities
- Rights under intercreditor and co-lender agreements
- Preferred equity investments
- Hotel and resort properties and portfolios, including negotiating restructurings and workouts and advising on bankruptcy issues
- Retail, office, and industrial leasing, including lease workouts and insolvency
- Litigation, ranging from tenant evictions to protecting entitlements to construction disputes
- Multifamily and condominiums
Navigating Financial Complexities
Financial institutions dealing with distressed real estate loans and the related assets face a number of issues cutting across traditional legal categories. Our integrated team approach focuses on utilizing our multidisciplinary knowledge base to assist clients in the following areas:
- Tax analysis related to acquiring distressed assets
- Environmental concerns, affecting all property types ranging from coastal management issues, wetlands mitigation, and ongoing monitoring of contaminants
- Employment and immigration concerns, particularly in the context of resort and hotel properties
- Protection of intangible assets, such as intellectual property and e-commerce operations
- Construction and development issues dealing with contractor agreements and lien claimants
- Leasing and facility management concerns, focusing on retail, office and industrial leasing
