Practice Expertise

  • Acquisitions and Dispositions
  • Commercial Real Estate Lending
  • Construction
  • Finance and Restructuring

Areas of Practice

  • Acquisitions and Dispositions
  • Commercial Real Estate Lending
  • Construction
  • Finance and Restructuring
  • Health Care and Life Sciences
  • Hospitality
  • Hotel REIT
  • Hotel REITs
  • Land Use and Development
  • Leasing
  • Mortgage REIT
  • Mortgage REITs
  • Private Equity
  • Private Investment Funds
  • Real Estate Affordable Housing
  • Real Estate Capital Markets
  • Real Estate Life Sciences and Health Care
  • Real Estate Litigation
  • Real Estate, Development and Finance
  • View More

Profile

Laurie, an accomplished deal maker, is co-chair of the firms global real estate practice. She takes a client-focused approach to her real estate practice, often acting as in-house counsel for her clients and becoming a trusted member of their businesses.

Laurie has a long list of clients who have been with her since the beginning of her practice and appreciate her ability to adeptly and efficiently handle any type of real estate deal. She is recognized as a leading lawyer in Chambers USA 2021, noting that she is “a strong negotiator” and “she has a great business sense combined with legal knowledge.”

Laurie represents real estate private equity funds, companies, institutional REITs, investors and other property owners in structuring and closing real estate transactions such as acquisitions and dispositions, developments, financings, portfolio transactions, preferred equity investments, leasing and real estate joint ventures. Her work touches all asset classes, including office, multifamily, affordable housing, workforce housing, mixed-use, life sciences, hospitality, retail and condominium.

She also maintains an active capital markets and fund practice, representing investors in joint venture transactions and sophisticated fund and tax structures. Additionally, Laurie is well-versed in the Opportunity Zone program, helping numerous clients through the process of structuring and investing in qualified properties and vehicles. She is also active in the areas of ESG and real estate sustainability, including green loans, C-PACE loans and bonds.

Laurie is involved in a number of non-profit and charitable organizations focusing on increasing diversity in real estate. She serves on the Advisory Board and spearheads the firm’s legal partnership with Project Destined, an organization dedicated to transforming minority youth into owners in the communities in which they live, work and play. She also serves as co-chair for Rebuilding New York’s “She Builds” program, where she organizes an annual renovation day, rehabilitating a New York City community center in need.

Laurie is a frequent speaker and is sought after by industry publications for her professional insights. While at her former firm, she distinguished herself by becoming one of the youngest partners in the firm’s history at age 33.

Commercial Observer has included her in their elite “Power 100” list, which recognizes the most powerful players in real estate. She has also been featured in Crain’s “Notable Women in Law” listing, as well as their listing of “Notable in Real Estate.” Real Estate Forum has also inducted Laurie into their “Women of Influence Hall of Fame,” recognizing her longtime contributions to the commercial real estate industry.

Relevant Experience

  • Represented Chatham Lodging Trust in connection with the amendment of a $250 million credit facility from various participating lenders and secured by a portfolio of hotels located across the country.
  • Represented a lender and servicer focused on real estate sustainability with a $26.5 million C-PACE financing, secured by six voluntary special assessments levied against a property in Pennsylvania. The C-PACE loan was made for the retroactive financing of certain renovations and construction, with the goal of reducing energy consumption and installing renewable energy systems. The property was transformed into a mixed-use campus with multifamily housing, offices, retail and event space. The transaction included drafting and negotiating the C-PACE financing documents, review of the documents relating to the condominium regime instituted, certain leases at the property, title, survey and other due diligence matters, as well as negotiation of a Recognition Agreement with the existing mortgage lender.
  • Represented Chatham Lodging Trust, in a joint venture with Colony Capital, Inc., in connection with a $755 million mortgage loan, a $45 million mezzanine A loan and a $55 million mezzanine B loan to refinance a portfolio of 46 hotels located in California, Colorado, Connecticut, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Illinois, Maine, Maryland, Michigan, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, Texas, Virginia and Washington.
  • Represented Fairstead in their $350 million purchase of an affordable housing portfolio consisting of 48 buildings—the largest affordable housing deal in New York for that year.
  • Represented Hospitality Properties Trust with its $2.4 billion acquisition of a net lease service retail portfolio from Spirit MTA REIT. The portfolio consisted of 772 service and necessity-based, single-tenant, triple-net leased properties. The deal was structured as an acquisition of 100% of the equity in the five property-owner entities owning 769 of the properties with a simultaneous acquisition of the real estate for three remaining properties.
  • Represented Service Properties Trust (formerly Hospitality Properties Trust) in connection with its $438 million disposition of 126 properties located in 26 states across the country. The properties were recently acquired by Service Properties Trust as part of their acquisition of a 772-property portfolio from Spirit MTA REIT. 
  • Represented Savanna in the purchase of 521 Fifth Avenue, a 39-story office tower in Midtown Manhattan, one block from Grand Central Terminal.
  • Represented Savanna in the $349 million, floating-rate loan to refinance 110 William Street.  The 32 story, 928,181-square-foot Class-A office tower is located in Manhattan’s Financial District.
  • Represented Savanna in the $90 million acquisition of 48 West 25th Street in the Chelsea neighborhood of Manhattan. The 12-story office building was built in 1920 and spans about 126,000 square feet.
  • Advised RBH Group as the sponsor on the formation and structuring of an Opportunity Zone investment platform, including negotiation and drafting of documents for co-GP relationship and LP investment documents. The platform is set up to invest in and develop projects in Opportunity Zones located in several states, with both institutional and family offices as the LP investors.
  • Represented Hudson Acquisitions and Poet Advisors in making a $46 million qualified opportunity zone equity investment with Hampshire Properties to acquire a development parcel located in Brooklyn, New York, in connection with a large scale $500 million office development.
  • Represented Savanna in the $640 million acquisition of 5 Bryant Park in Midtown Manhattan.  The 682,988-square-foot office and retail property is located directly across from Bryant Park on Sixth Avenue and features 100 feet of frontage facing the park.
  • Represented Cove Property Group in connection with the leasing of 100,638 rentable square feet as well as 312,000 rentable square feet of office space at Hudson Commons, a 28-story creatively repositioned office tower located in Manhattan. These will serve as the anchor leases at the 700,000 square foot redevelopment project.
  • Represented Savanna in connection with the $120 million sale of an office building located at 95 Evergreen in Bushwick, Brooklyn. The sale was executed through the exercise of Savanna’s option to purchase the building in its capacity as the tenant under a ground lease.  The building includes 5 stories with 158,000 square feet of space.
  • Represented Savanna in its $126 million purchase of a 12-story office building, with ground-floor retail, located in the NoMad neighborhood of Manhattan. Savanna plans to transform the property by undertaking strategic renovations and repositioning the ground-floor retail.
  • Represented Cove Property Group in the acquisition and development of 441 Ninth Avenue in Manhattan for $330 million.
  • Represented L+M and Savanna in the $315 million sale of Savoy Park Apartments to Fairstead Capital.
  • Represented World Wide Group in the $70 million acquisition and related financing of 42-15 Crescent Street, Long Island City, Queens, New York. During the contract period, the 124-unit rental property near Queens Plaza South was under redevelopment by the seller, being converted from an office building.
  • Represented Pebblebrook Hotel Trust in its $118 million sale of the Dumont NYC, a 252-room hotel, adjoined by a residential rental building with ground floor commercial space, located in the Murray Hill neighborhood of New York City. 
  • Represented RBH Group in its $20 million acquisition and planned redevelopment of 370 Asylum Street in Hartford, Connecticut. The project will transform and repurpose a long-vacant commercial building in downtown Hartford, Connecticut, into a vibrant and dynamic mixed-use space. The project, known as Teachers Corner Hartford, will be comprised of luxury market-rate and affordable residential units, pre-marketed to local education professionals, and will feature a suite of amenities including space for educational opportunities and cultural performances, as well as restaurant and retail components.
  • Represented Savanna in connection with securing $45 million in financing for the commercial building located at 1825 Park Avenue in the Harlem neighborhood of New York City. The office and retail building is 12 stories with 135,000 square feet of space and is located in Harlem’s 125th Street corridor.
  • Represented World Wide Group in the acquisition of SkyHouse Raleigh, an ultra-luxury residential tower in Raleigh, North Carolina for $103 million, setting a new Triangle market record for multifamily properties.
  • Represented World Wide Group in the $103.5 million acquisition of 110 Green Street, Brooklyn, New York, a 130-unit rental property located in the Greenpoint neighborhood of Brooklyn. The transaction represents the first residential sale in excess of $100 million in the neighborhood. The firm also represented World Wide Group on the $50 million acquisition loan for this project.
  • Represented World Wide Group in the $165 million permanent refinancing of QLIC, a 421-unit residential rental property in Long Island City, with a CMBS loan from Natixis Real Estate Capital.
  • Represented Vanbarton Group in the $133 million acquisition of Riverdale Crossing, a 159,037-square-foot shopping center in the Bronx.
  • Represented Chatham Lodging Trust in a joint venture to acquire a 52-hotel, 6,976-room portfolio for approximately $1.1 billion, including the acquisition of four premier hotels in Massachusetts and Texas for approximately $106 million.
  • Represented Savanna in the sale of a Class A office building located at 100 Wall Street in Lower Manhattan to Cornerstone Real Estate Advisors for $275 million. Savanna was able to make significant capital improvements to the 29-story building since it acquired the property in 2011.
  • Represented Vanbarton Group, LLC in the $76 million acquisition and financing of 33 Caton Place in Windsor Terrace, Brooklyn. The property, an eight-story luxury rental building known as The Kestrel, is just steps from Prospect Park.
  • Represented Downtown Holdings in the $500 million redevelopment of 70 Pine Street, the former AIG building.
  • Represented Chatham Lodging Trust in the acquisition of a 51-hotel, 6,848-room portfolio from a joint venture in two separate transactions for a combined total purchase price of $1.3 billion.
  • Represented Savanna in the acquisition and financing of 95 Evergreen Avenue, a 170,000-square-foot warehouse building in Bushwick, Brooklyn that was originally constructed as the historic Schlitz Brewery and is currently being redeveloped for retail and office use.
  • Represented a prominent New York investor in making a preferred equity investment with a New York developer to acquire multifamily assets in the New York metropolitan area. The investment is structured as a programmatic joint venture that allows the developer to aggregate a portfolio of assets for sale to an institutional investor. 
  • Represented a prominent New York developer in its strategic joint venture with another prominent New York developer to acquire an existing historic building in upper Manhattan from a non-profit organization. The project will be redeveloped and repurposed as a mixed-use development, including a high-rise residential tower. 
  • Represented Aria Development Group in making a preferred equity investment with The Bernstein Companies to acquire a vacant office building located in Hyattsville, Maryland to be converted to multifamily apartments.
  • Represented Savanna in the $86 million acquisition of 461 West 14th Street, a 25,000-square-foot corner retail property located underneath the High Line in Manhattan.
  • Represented Chatham Lodging Trust in connection with the $55.7 million mortgage loan refinancing of three hotels located in Texas, Massachusetts and California.
  • Represented the World Wide Group on a $700-million, mixed-use project on East 57th Street in Manhattan. Also, handled the $450 million construction loan facility from Starwood to finance a 59-story residential tower.
  • Represented Savanna, in a joint venture with KBS Capital Advisors, in the acquisition of 110 William Street. The 32-story office tower, sold for $261 million, is located in Manhattan’s Financial District.
  • Represented Aria Development Group in a note acquisition and deed-in-lieu transaction at 321 Ocean Drive, Miami. Also, handled the construction loan and the development of the high-end condominium project in South Beach.
  • Represented Savanna in the sale of 415 Eighth Avenue in Manhattan, a development site uniquely located across from Penn Station, the newly renovated Madison Square Garden, and the Farley Post Office/future Moynihan Station.
  • Represented a commercial real estate developer in a joint venture with a Saudi investor to purchase a development site in the Nolita neighborhood of Manhattan. The site, currently a parking garage, will be redeveloped as a luxury condominium.
  • Represented affiliates of RBH Group LLC in the redevelopment of 212 Rome Street, Newark, New Jersey, as an indoor aeroponic farm. The project, to be known as Makers Village, is a 69,000-square-foot building in the Ironbound District of Newark that will be completely renovated and enlarged specifically for its new tenant, AeroFarms.
  • Represented Savanna in the acquisition of a 20,676-square-foot retail condominium at 1107 Broadway/10 Madison Square West. The retail space, part of a 16-story building with 125 luxury residential condominiums, includes approximately 12,000-square-feet of prime corner ground floor space and 4,800-square-feet of basement selling space.
  • Represented a foreign family office in the investment of equity into two hotels in Brooklyn.
  • Representation of an all-girls private school, in connection with obtaining a bridge loan and its purchase of 115 East 97th Street in New York, where it will later construct a school. This representation also includes a bond financing.
  • Represented a commercial real estate developer, as a co-sponsor and investor, with the acquisition of a site in the Boerum Hill section of Brooklyn. The sale marked the highest price per-buildable-square-foot ever paid for a development site of this size in Brooklyn.
  • Represented Aria Development Group in the acquisition of a development site in downtown Miami. Assisted them with the hotel management agreement and operating agreement, with a foreign investor for the development of a hotel and residential complex.
  • Represented RBH Group in connection with the $150 million Teachers Village project, a mixed-use development that Mayor Cory Booker says will “transform downtown Newark.”
  • Represented a large holdings company in a complex leasehold financing.
  • Represented a real estate development group in various joint ventures for the acquisition of underdeveloped sites in Miami, Florida for redevelopment into residential condominiums.
  • Represented a national hospitality REIT in a $50 million financing for the acquisition of a hotel property in Seattle, Washington.
  • Represented a national hospitality REIT in extending and adding collateral to a $225 million corporate credit facility.
  • Represented a real estate development group in a joint venture for the $550 million development of a mixed-use building on the Upper East Side of Manhattan, on land that is ground leased from the NYC Educational Construction Fund.
  • Represented Savanna Partners in the sale of a 26-story office building located at 2 Rector Street in Lower Manhattan for $140 million.

Bar Admissions

  • New Jersey
  • New York

Education
BS, University at Buffalo, 1995

Areas of Practice

  • Acquisitions and Dispositions
  • Commercial Real Estate Lending
  • Construction
  • Finance and Restructuring
  • Health Care and Life Sciences
  • Hospitality
  • Hotel REIT
  • Hotel REITs
  • Land Use and Development
  • Leasing
  • Mortgage REIT
  • Mortgage REITs
  • Private Equity
  • Private Investment Funds
  • Real Estate Affordable Housing
  • Real Estate Capital Markets
  • Real Estate Life Sciences and Health Care
  • Real Estate Litigation
  • Real Estate, Development and Finance

Professional Career

Significant Accomplishments
  • Represented Savanna, in a joint venture with KBS Capital Advisors, in the acquisition of 110 William Street.  The 32-story office tower, sold for $261 million, is located in Manhattan’s Financial District.
  • Represented Savanna in the sale of 415 Eighth Avenue in Manhattan, a development site uniquely located across from Penn Station, the newly renovated Madison Square Garden, and the Farley Post Office/future Moynihan Station.
  • Represented a commercial real estate developer in a joint venture with a Saudi investor to purchase a development site in the Nolita neighborhood of Manhattan. The site, currently a parking garage, will be redeveloped as a luxury condominium.
  • Represented affiliates of RBH Group LLC in the redevelopment of 212 Rome Street, Newark, New Jersey, as an indoor aeroponic farm. The project, to be known as Makers Village, is a 69,000-square-foot building in the Ironbound District of Newark that will be completely renovated and enlarged specifically for its new tenant, AeroFarms.
  • Represented Savanna in the acquisition of a 20,676 square foot retail condominium at 1107 Broadway/10 Madison Square West. The retail space, part of a 16-story building with 125 luxury residential condominiums, includes approximately 12,000 square feet of prime corner ground floor space and 4,800 square feet of basement selling space.
  • Representation of a not-for-profit corporation and all-girls Catholic school, in connection with obtaining a bridge loan and its purchase of 115 East 97th Street in New York, where it will later construct a school. This representation also includes a bond financing.
  • Represented the World-Wide Group on a $700 million mixed-use project on East 57th Street in Manhattan. World-Wide Group has already constructed two new schools and a Whole Foods at the site, and a 59 story residential tower is planned.  Also, handled the $450 million construction loan facility from Starwood to finance the residential tower.
  • Represented Savanna Fund in a number of high-profile acquisitions and successful conversions of debt positions to equity.
  • Represents Downtown Holdings in the $500 million redevelopment of 70 Pine Street, the former AIG building.
  • Represents RBH Group in connection with the $150 million Teachers Village project, a mixed-use development that Mayor Cory Booker says will “transform downtown Newark.”
  • Represented a large holdings company in a complex leasehold financing.
  • Represented a real estate development group in various joint ventures for the acquisition of underdeveloped sites in Miami, Florida for redevelopment into residential condominiums.
  • Represented a national hospitality REIT in a $50 million financing for the acquisition of a hotel property in Seattle, Washington.
  • Represented a national hospitality REIT in extending and adding collateral to a $225 million corporate credit facility.
  • Represented a New York City developer in the $30 million financing of a development site and related air rights in Manhattan.
  • Represented a real estate development group in a joint venture for the $550 million development of a mixed-use building on the Upper East Side of Manhattan, on land that is ground leased from the NYC Educational Construction Fund.
  • Represented Savanna Partners in the sale of a 26-story office building located at 2 Rector Street in Lower Manhattan for $140 million.
  • Represented World-Wide Group in its $110 million construction financing of a project in Long Island City, the project will contain several high-rise residential buildings as well as retail and a parking garage.


Professional Associations
  • Co-founder, Real Women of Real Estate

Professional Activities and Experience
  • Named among Women of Influence Hall of Fame, Real Estate Forum, 2017
  • Named among Women of Influence, Real Estate Forum, 2016
  • Named a NYC Power Woman in Real Estate, Bisnow, 2016
  • Named among Women in Real Estate, New York Real Estate Journal, 2016
  • Recognized as a Leader in Real Estate, New York, Chambers USA, 2016
  • Named among Top 15 Women in Real Estate, Sokol Media, 2015
  • Selected as a Top 50 Female Attorney for Real Estate Law, New York Super Lawyers magazine, 2015 – 2016. A description of the selection methodology can be found on Super Lawyers’ webpage.
  • Selected as a Super Lawyer for Real Estate Law, New York Super Lawyers magazine, 2014 – 2015. A description of the selection methodology can be found on Super Lawyers’ webpage.
  • Selected as a Rising Star for Real Estate Law, New York Super Lawyers magazine, 2012 – 2013. A description of the selection methodology can be found on Super Lawyers’ webpage.
  • Three-time recipient of Most Ingenious Deal of the Year award, REBNY Named among Women of Influence, Real Estate New York, 2008, 2009, 2011
  • Named among Women of Influence, Real Estate Forum, 2011
  • Listed for Real Estate, Legal 500 United States, 2008, 2012, 2016
  • Named among 35 under 35, Real Estate Forum, 2007


Articles

  • Preferred Equity: the Preferred, Negotiable Financing, Commercial Observer
  • Building Relationships: New York Real Estate Highlights, Fall 2015
  • Qualified Opportunity Zone Investments: Overview, Practical Law
  • Qualified Opportunity Zone Investments, Practical Law Journal
  • Qualified Opportunity Zone Investments: Overview, Practical Law
  • Building Relationships: New York Real Estate Highlights, Fall 2016

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