WMD’s attorneys have represented real estate owners, developers, secured lenders, loan participants, institutional and individual investors, majority and minority partners, bondholders, borrowers, landlords, tenants, and others in a wide range of issues. These matters include work outs and other restructurings, disputes over secured or unsecured assets, modifying the relationship of debt and equity, easement litigation, quiet title actions, contested mortgage foreclosures, violations of redevelopment agreements, boundary encroachments, and lease issues. We bring a strategic, business-minded approach to problem solving that proactively helps clients achieve their objectives in the most efficient and cost-efficient manner possible.

Representative matters include:

• The Firm represented Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. (“Lehman”) in litigation relating to Archstone, the largest real estate holding of Lehman, which was purchased by Lehman and others for approximately $22 billion. Lehman, which owned 47% of Archstone and possessed a right of first refusal, sued Bank of America Corp. and Barclays PLC for breach of contract and injunctive relief to block any transfer of the banks’ interest in Archstone to Equity Residential. In re Lehman Brothers Holdings, Inc., et al., Case No. 08-13555 (JMP) (Bankr. S.D.N.Y.), Adversary Proceeding No. 11-02928 (JMP).

• The Firm represented a nonbankrupt unit of Lehman against an affiliate of Goldman Sachs & Co. for breach of an approximately $1.3 billion contract related to 3-million-square-foot office building portfolio in Virginia. Rosslyn LB Syndication Partner LLC v. USREO/Rosslyn Investors, LLC, Chapter 11 Case No. 08-13555 (JMP) (Bankr. S.D.N.Y.), Adversary Proceeding No. 11-02764 (JMP).

• The Firm represented Toll Brothers, Inc. in two disputes in New Jersey state court arising out of options to purchase real estate in Jersey City, New Jersey and Hoboken, New Jersey. TSA Inv., LLC v. Block 255, LLC and Toll Brothers, Inc., Case No. HUD L-5761-09 (Super. Ct. N.J. Hudson County); Toll NJ IX and 126-142 Morgan Street Urban Renewal LLC v. V& S Realty Co. and Bay Street Management, LLP, Case No. C-69-10, (Super. Ct. N.J. Hudson County).

• The Firm represented hotel developer, Como Holdings USA, Inc. (“Como”), in litigation regarding real estate commissions purportedly owed in connection with Como’s acquisition of the Traymore Hotel in Miami, Florida. Ted Rover v. Como Holdings USA, Inc., Case No. 1:14-cv-20260-KMM (S.D. Fla.).

• The Firm represented Manufacturers and Traders Trust Company, an indenture trustee, in a 14-day bench trial, and later before the New Jersey Appellate Division. In a a ruling of first impression, both courts held that the bondholders had the right to modify state affordable housing restrictions under New Jersey’s County Improvement Authorities Law to repair a senior low-income housing apartment complex damaged by Hurricane Sandy. The ruling permitted the bondholder to generate additional revenue to fund repairs of the real estate collateral. Mfrs. & Traders Tr. Co. v. Marina Bay Towers Urban Renewal II, LP, No. A-5879-17T2, 2019 N.J. Super. Unpub. LEXIS 2161 (Super. Ct. App. Div. Oct. 22, 2019).

• The Firm represented New Jersey real estate developer Central Bergen Properties and its affiliates as the borrower in a receivership in connection with a multi-jurisdiction dispute in New Jersey federal district court, bankruptcy court, and state court. These actions arose from a $30 million securitized commercial mortgage loan, and in connection with successfully closing a global settlement and recapitalization of the borrower’s debt facility.