Real Estate

Overview

Modern real estate practice requires lawyers experienced in the application of real estate, corporate, securities, partnership and tax law to complex business transactions involving the acquisition, ownership, financing and operation of commercial real estate. The members of the Real Estate Practice Group at Kirkland pursue an inter-disciplinary approach to sophisticated real estate transactions to offer our clients flexible and creative solutions to difficult problems across a broad range of transactions in the commercial real estate industry. Through extensive interaction between members of the Real Estate Practice Group and lawyers in other areas of the Firm’s practice, we offer focused, multi-disciplinary counsel on a cost-effective basis. Kirkland regularly advises real estate clients on a variety of matters including the following:

• Acquisitions and dispositions of single assets, portfolios, majority and minority equity positions, and performing and non-performing loans;

• Joint ventures (both one-off partnerships and platforms) involving all asset classes;

• Complex debt restructurings and workouts and equity recapitalizations, including loan to own transactions;

• Real estate private equity fund formations and investments including institutional and principal lead funds with particular experience in cross-border structuring;

• First mortgage and mezzanine financing transactions; and

• REIT formation, qualification and transaction structuring.

Real Estate Private Equity Investment Practice

Kirkland enjoys an outstanding reputation in the representation of private equity fund sponsors and investors active across a broad range of industries and investment strategies. A significant portion of the Firm’s real estate practice is devoted to the representation of major pension organizations, private equity funds and other institutional investors in their private market investment transactions involving real estate and/or related securities investments. Kirkland lawyers are experienced in real estate, environmental, corporate and securities, tax, ERISA and public pension law issues presented by such transactions. We have experience across a broad spectrum of pooled vehicles and direct investments in the United States and abroad, including direct real estate investments and acquisitions of debt and equity securities in corporations, partnerships and other operating entities, and frequently provide advice regarding applicable ERISA and public pension law issues including fiduciary standards, plan assets and prohibited transactions as well as counsel on issues relating to unrelated business taxable income and other pertinent tax issues.

Public and Private REIT Practice

Kirkland attorneys are frequently involved in complex transactions involving publicly traded and privately owned REITs including portfolio transactions, private REIT formations and subsequent public market executions, public company merger and acquisition transactions and the formation of equity joint ventures between REITs and institutional investors. In addition, Kirkland lawyers are experienced in the unique issues presented when REITs issue debt and equity securities or engage in unsecured corporate borrowings. Our lawyers are familiar with the many opportunities and challenges presented by REITs with respect to transaction structuring and the interplay between company public market financing activities and private market acquisition strategies. By combining real estate, tax and corporate lawyers as appropriate, we offer a complete range of services to this increasingly important market sector.

Hospitality Practice

The Firm’s real estate practice includes substantial activity in the hospitality property area. Kirkland real estate lawyers have extensive experience in hotel acquisitions and dispositions, development transactions and joint ventures and management agreements. The complex operational aspects of hospitality properties require multi-disciplinary due diligence and transactional skills and Kirkland lawyers working in the hospitality area are skilled in efficiently addressing these complexities in hospitality transactions ranging in size from a few million dollars to well over $1 billion.

Real Estate Finance and Workouts

Lawyers practicing in the real estate area at Kirkland have broad experience in real estate secured lending and structured finance, both in the representation of lenders and borrowers, on transactions involving conventional acquisition, term and construction loans, as well as more complex structures such as leveraged leases, commercial mortgage-backed securities, individual and portfolio loan acquisitions and syndicated corporate credit facilities secured by extensive, multi-state real estate holdings. When loans secured by income producing real property require restructuring, Kirkland real estate lawyers, working in conjunction with attorneys from our Restructuring Group, are actively involved in all aspects of the negotiation and preparation of workout documents and, when required, the prosecution or defense of foreclosure, bankruptcy and related litigation.

Corporate Real Estate

Real estate lawyers at Kirkland are skilled in all aspects of the representation of corporate real estate users. In addition to our participation in corporate acquisition and disposition transactions frequently involving multi-state real estate assets and related acquisition and financing issues, we are regularly involved in a wide variety of leasing, build-to-suit and other transactions for corporate real estate users of office, manufacturing and industrial properties. We have particular experience in the negotiation and preparation of complex shared-facility, reciprocal operating and other agreements required in the division of large manufacturing and industrial sites between multiple users.

Representative Clients

• Anglo Irish Bank Corporation Ltd.

• APG Investments US, Inc.

• Archstone

• Aviva Investors

• Bain Capital, LLC

• Behringer Harvard

• Brookfield Asset Management Inc.

• Charter Hall Group

• GEM Realty Capital, Inc.

• General Growth Properties, Inc.

• General Motors Investment Management Corporation

• Haberhill LLC

• ING Real Estate B.V.

• JMB Realty Corporation

• Kerzner International Resorts, Inc.

• Kimpton Hotel & Restaurant Group, LLC

• LaSalle Investment Management

• The Lionstone Group

• Macquarie Group

• Morgan Stanley Investment Management Limited

• Principal Global Investors, LLC

• Starwood Capital Group, L.P.

• Stonehenge Partners, Inc.

• Teays River Investments, LLC

• Tishman Speyer Properties

• Walton Street Capital, LLC

• Whirlpool Corporation

• Wyndham Worldwide Corporation