Bradford B. Lavender
Bradford Lavender is co-chair of the National Real Estate Practice Group and a member of the firm’s board of directors. Brad has almost 30 years of experience representing clients in all areas of real estate and real estate finance, including joint ventures, sales, acquisitions, ground leases, loan and preferred equity originations, restructurings, development transactions, and space leases. Brad’s clients include private equity funds, publicly-traded REITs, closely-held real estate companies, foreign investors, and local developers.
In recent years, Brad has represented (1) investors and operators in numerous joint venture transactions involving over $4 billion of invested equity in various asset classes, including industrial, hospitality, multifamily, office, retail, senior living, and brownfield redevelopment; (2) a publicly-traded REIT in the acquisition of a portfolio of 52 hotels for over $1 billion (the largest hospitality portfolio transaction that year); (3) lenders in the restructuring of over $2 billion of mortgage and mezzanine loans; (4) the majority equity investor in the acquisition of a 1,300 acre redevelopment site in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; (5) developers and ground lessors in numerous development-oriented ground lease transactions; and (6) the State of New York in its purchase of the James A. Farley Post Office Building in Manhattan, now the Moynihan Station Train Hall.
Joint Ventures
- Represented a private equity fund in numerous joint ventures involving over $4 billion of assets spanning various asset classes, including industrial, hospitality, multi-family, office, retail, senior living, and brownfield redevelopment.
- Represented the operator in a programmatic joint venture that acquired over $3 billion of multi-family assets in New York City.
- Represented a private equity fund in a joint venture to acquire a 1,300 acre oil refinery in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania for redevelopment into industrial and e-commerce space.
- Represented a publicly-traded REIT in a joint venture to acquire a portfolio of hotels for over $1.1 billion.
- Represented a real estate developer in a joint venture for an $800 million condominium development project in Manhattan.
- Represented a foreign investor in numerous joint ventures to develop over $2 billion of condominium projects in New York City.
- Represented a private equity fund in investing over $500 million in numerous preferred equity investments in multi-family assets throughout the United States.
Sales and Acquisitions
- Represented the State of New York in its purchase of the James A. Farley Post Office Building in Manhattan, now the Moynihan Station Train Hall.
- Represented a publicly-traded REIT in the acquisition of a portfolio of 52 hotels for over $1 billion.
- Represented a publicly-traded REIT in the acquisition of a portfolio of 40 hotels for over $600 million.
- Represented a joint venture in the acquisition and financing of REIT shares in various REITs that owned a portfolio of 35 multi-family properties in New York City valued at over $360 million.
- Represented a publicly-traded REIT in the sale of a portfolio of multi-family properties for over $500 million.
- Represented a publicly-traded REIT in the sale of a portfolio of industrial properties for over $350 million.
- Represented a family office in the purchase and financing of a newly constructed residential office tower in Chicago for over $175M.
Ground Leases
- Represented the developer in the ground lease (and other development aspects) of a development site in Greenwich Village, New York City.
- Represented the developer in the ground lease (and other development aspects) of a development site in Chelsea, New York City.
- Represented the developer in the ground lease (and other development aspects) of a development site in Tribeca, New York City.
- Represented the developer in the ground lease (and other development aspects) of a development site on the Upper East Side, New York City.
- Represented the developer in the ground lease (and other development aspects) of three separate development sites in Harlem, New York City.
- Represented a ground lessor in the ground lease of a development site in Harlem, New York City.
- Represented a ground lessor in the ground lease of a development site on the Upper East Side, New York City.
Borrower Financings
- Represented the borrower in a $500 million construction loan for a 1,300 acre development site in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
- Represented the borrower in a construction loan and mezzanine loan for a $250 million condominium development in New York City.
- Represented the borrower in a $170 million loan secured by industrial properties in New Jersey.
- Represented the borrower in a $155 million loan for a triple net leased warehouse in Chicago, Illinois
- Represented the borrower in a construction loan and preferred equity financing for a $160 million multi-family development in Mesa, Arizona.
- Represented the borrower in a $100 million construction loan for a condominium project in Dumbo, New York City.
- Represented the borrower in an $80 million construction loan for a speculative office building in the East Village, New York City.
- Represented the borrower in an $85 million construction loan for a condominium project in Dumbo, New York City.
Restructurings
- Represented a junior mezzanine lender in the restructuring of over $1 billion of senior and subordinate debt secured by a hotel in Las Vegas, Nevada.
- Represented the existing equity in a bankruptcy and restructuring of approximately $500 million of senior and subordinate debt secured by various commercial properties in Las Vegas, Nevada.
- Represented a subordinate lender in a bankruptcy and restructuring of $150 million of debt in connection with a Chicago office building owned by 35 tenants-in-common.
- Represented a borrower in a debt-to-equity conversion in connection with a distressed New York City development site.
- Represented borrowers in numerous loan restructurings, including the creation of various “A note” and “B note” structures.
Space Leases
- Represented the owners of numerous office buildings in New York City and Boston in all their space leasing needs.
- Represented the owners of various retail space in New York City in all their space leasing needs.
- Represented an industrial developer in various build-to-suit and other lease transactions.
- Represented a publicly-traded investment bank, as tenant, in various leases throughout the United States.
- Represented a publicly-traded publishing company, as tenant, in various leases throughout the United States.
- Fellow, American College of Real Estate Lawyers, 2023
- “Issues to Consider in Programmatic Joint Ventures,” author, The Practical Real Estate Lawyer, Volume 39 Issue 5, (September 2023).
- “Using a Co-GP Structure in Real Estate Joint Ventures,” author, The Practical Real Estate Lawyer, Volume 39 Issue 3, (September 2023).
- Negotiating Loan Guaranties and Carveouts – presenter, PLI Commercial Real Estate Financing 2023 (March 30, 2023).
- Ground Lease Structuring and Financing – panelist with Dena Cohen, PLI Commercial Real Estate Financing 2023 (March 30, 2023).
- Funds in the Capital Stack – speaker, Mortgage Bankers Association of New York; moderated by Joshua Stein (June 9, 2022).
- Guaranties and Carveouts – speaker, PLI Commercial Real Estate Financing 2022 (March 29, 2022).
- Ground Lease Structuring and Financing – panelist with Joshua Stein and Dena Cohen at PLI Commercial Real Estate Financing 2022 (March 29, 2022).
- “Basics of Co-GP Transactions.” author, N.Y. Real Property Law Journal, 2021, Vol. 49, No. 2. (December 2021).
Education
J.D., University of Pennsylvania Law School, 1994
B.S., State University of New York at Albany, 1991, magna cum laude
Admissions
New York
In a customary real estate joint venture, an operator/developer (the Operator) and an investor (the Investor) form a joint venture for a single transaction, with no obligations to each other beyond that transaction. Sometimes, though, the Operator and the Investor will form a joint venture for the purpose of investing together in multiple real estate transactions over a period of time. This type o [...]
Lavender in The Practical Real Estate Lawyer: Using a Co-GP Structure in Real Estate Joint Ventures
April 19, 2023
