James B. Smith

Jim concentrates his practice in structuring, negotiating, and consummating real estate transactions, including purchase and sales, zoning and development, workouts and restructures, financings, joint ventures, and leasing. He has represented a large variety of institutional and individual developers, building owners, purchasers, sellers, lenders, borrowers, landlords, tenants, and bondholders in major real estate transactions throughout the country.

Examples of transactions Jim has been involved in include representing:

• A major lending institution in the restructuring of a $78 million shopping mall loan in California to incorporate additional property and fundings.
• A REIT in an issuance of $50 million in publicly rated collateralized mortgage notes secured by twenty industrial properties in three states.
• A technology-related company in the leasing of a 275,000 rentable square foot facility to be built in San Francisco, California and in leasing a 130,000 rentable square foot rehabilitated facility in Needham, Massachusetts.
• An institutional investment company in the sale of retail and office properties in Illinois and Florida.
• An institutional investment company in office building leases aggregating approximately 1,200,000 rentable square feet.
• A REIT in fixed and line-of-credit financings aggregating more than $200 million.
• A private equity syndicator in the acquisition and sales of shopping centers, office buildings, and apartments in Virginia, Arizona, Florida, California, Massachusetts, New Jersey, Georgia and Texas aggregating over $1 billion.
• An existing hotel company in the reorganization and merger of hotel property assets resulting in combined assets exceeding $150 million and debt refinancing of approximately $50 million.
• An institutional investor in acquiring an approximately $120 million existing loan on a Chicago downtown office building.
• An institutional investor in the sales of office buildings in Chicago and Minneapolis in transactions aggregating in excess of $75 million.
• An institutional investor in acquiring a Chicago office building for in excess of $150 million.
• An institutional investor in mezzanine financings related to Chicago area condominium developments.