Real Estate

Acquisitions & dispositions

Our real estate experience spans all asset classes: multifamily, office, industrial, mixed-use, retail, hotel, and manufactured housing communities. We’ve represented clients in deals ranging from $1 million on a single asset to $1 billion on a portfolio of assets. We also represent borrowers and lenders on complex financing and defeasance matters, including mezzanine and credit financings, associated with real estate acquisitions and dispositions. We work with clients in distressed real estate acquisitions and dispositions, including purchases out of bankruptcy and acquisitions of distressed real estate loans.

Joint ventures

We have extensive experience in structuring, negotiating, and closing real estate joint venture transactions in connection with many acquisitions. We represent financial partners, operating partners, and groups that finance operating partner co-investments.

Operating as a dedicated service team, we understand the real estate market, points of leverage in negotiations, and the business needs of our clients. Because we’ve worked with both financial partners and operating partners, we take a specific and detailed approach to due diligence, deal negotiation, and documentation. Our lawyers provide frank, practical advice to move parties toward a deal that will position the joint venture for success in connection with its underlying purpose. We strip away legal jargon from pertinent business issues so that the principals can understand the issues at hand.

Real estate development

We help real estate developers bring their projects to fruition. From term sheet ideation through closing and construction, we serve as trusted advisors, helping clients overcome any hurdles that arise in the development timeline. We offer counsel on joint ventures and create ownership and waterfall distribution strategies, deftly handling issues that can make developers anxious. As problem solvers, we welcome the intellectual challenge of negotiating and drafting complicated easement agreements and navigating the complexities of vertically subdivided properties and mixed-use projects. We provide calm guidance during challenging times and celebrate our developer clients’ successes.

Commercial leasing

LP has a truly national leasing practice and loyal clients who trust us to represent them not only locally, but throughout the country. Our leasing practice encompasses all types of properties, including office, medical office and health care, industrial, warehouse, manufacturing and distribution, retail, mixed-use, storage, and airport and aviation facilities. We currently represent landlord clients nationally, including assets located in California, Colorado, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Kentucky, Massachusetts, Minnesota, Missouri, Ohio, Texas, and Wisconsin. We also represent select tenants from time to time in complex, high-profile “anchor” transactions. In addition, we have long-standing, strong relationships and successful working histories with many of the top brokers in Chicago and the surrounding suburbs, both on the landlord and tenant sides. We know the Chicago area market, and the Chicago market knows and respects us.

We routinely assist property owners, landlords, property managers, and asset managers with all aspects of commercial leasing and asset management transactions, including leases, workletters, service contracts, property management agreements, brokerage agreements, construction agreements, storage agreements, rooftop agreements, and the like.

Real estate tax structuring

Our real estate tax structuring experience includes:

• Development structuring
• Complex real estate entity tax advice and structuring
• 1031 exchanges and reverse exchanges
• Tenancy in common structures

Debt & equity financing

Drawing on our extensive financial services and restructuring experience, we represent clients in connection with a wide range of real estate financial issues. We represent both lenders and borrowers in deal financing, joint venture financing, workouts, foreclosures, acquisitions of distressed loans, restructuring, and bankruptcy matters. Our debt and equity financing includes the following:

• Construction financing
• Permanent loans
• Conduit loans
• Mezzanine financing
• Preferred equity investments
• Hybrid debt
• Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac loans
• Private placements
• Complex structurings