Bank Regulation and Enforcement

WilmerHale is renowned for its sophisticated representation of investors, developers, landlords, tenants, lenders and institutions on complex real estate projects and transactions.

Since the development of the Prudential Center from what had been a blighted railroad yard in Boston’s Back Bay in the early 1960s, WilmerHale has been at the forefront of many of the most significant and complex development projects in the United States. We advise owners, developers, lenders and investors on every step of the development process—from site identification and evaluation through design, permitting, financing, construction, leasing and sale. Our projects range from big-box retail stores and industrial warehouse and distribution centers to manufacturing plants, office towers, hotels, multi-family and condominium projects, seniors housing communities, university and private research facilities, and more.

We counsel owners, investors, lenders, developers and tenants in an array of distressed real estate transactions, including mortgage loan workouts and foreclosures, acquisitions and dispositions of distressed assets and loans, lease renegotiations, and joint venture restructurings. We work with colleagues in our bankruptcy, litigation and environmental risk management practices to provide the full range of advice needed for each transaction. Our deep experience in foreclosures serves the needs of institutional lenders and investors using the acquisition of loans and the exercise of loan remedies as a means to acquire title to properties.

We represent public companies, REITs, private equity advisers, real estate operating companies, mutual fund investment managers and pension funds in all types of real estate transactions, including acquisitions, dispositions, equity investments, restructurings, workouts and mezzanine debt. Our clients include both taxable and tax-exempt investors (including pension and endowment funds). Our tax and ERISA groups work closely with us on many transactions. We have overseen the offerings of billions of equity in public and private REITs. We are familiar with market terms and conditions on economics, including registration rights and tax protection provisions.

Our wide-ranging experience includes retail, office, industrial, life sciences, credit tenant and build-to-suit leases. We help clients analyze alternative space choices, sublease arrangements, and restructurings and buyouts of existing leases. We devise structures to protect tenants against landlord and/or lender financial distress and navigate complex, multi-phase tenant fit-out projects. WilmerHale is the firm of choice for high-profile headquarters leases for tenants in the key Massachusetts office markets (Boston, Cambridge and the Route 128 corridor) and beyond, and we represent many clients in their national and international leasing needs. In addition to complex headquarters leases, we represent numerous companies in office leasing, subleasing and lease restructuring throughout the United States. For these representations, we often develop form leases, engage local counsel on an as-needed basis, and achieve efficiencies by centralizing negotiations.

WilmerHale’s Real Estate Practice represents borrowers and lenders in complex mortgage and mezzanine financing transactions across a wide variety of asset classes. We have extensive experience with government-sponsored enterprises and HUD, as well as conventional lenders, life insurance companies and mezzanine lenders. We also have one of the leading workout and bankruptcy practices in the nation, and we regularly collaborate with our bankruptcy lawyers to restructure debt on distressed real estate projects.