Polsinelli Shughart has forged a national practice and reputation in real estate finance. We regularly represent our real estate lending clients, including insurance companies, CMBS lenders, banks and other financial institutions, in acquisition, construction, bridge, permanent and mezzanine financing transactions of all sizes and complexities.
Our attorneys and paralegals have documented and closed more than 1,950 commercial mortgage loans exceeding $15 billion in principal amount in all 50 states, the District of Columbia, the U.S. Virgin Islands and Puerto Rico.
We also represent our lending clients, as well as some of the largest commercial loan servicers in the country, in connection with the administration and servicing of commercial real estate mortgage loans. The scope of this representation includes the full spectrum of issues that may arise during the term of a mortgage loan, including loan modifications, extensions, assumptions, defeasance transactions, collateral substitutions, participation and intercreditor agreement issues and loan sales and purchases. Loan structures range from loans with one property, borrower and lender, to the most complex structured finance loans involving multiple properties and parties, with participations, A/B notes and multiple mezzanine tiers.
Our extensive national experience in real estate loan enforcement and bankruptcy cases gives us a bottom-line, common-sense perspective that enhances our loan origination and servicing work, and positions us for rapid, effective action when there is an impending loan default. Our attorneys have significant experience in workouts and restructuring of mortgage loans and work closely with our loan enforcement group to maximize our clients’ recoveries on troubled loans.
We supplement our extensive experience by integrating lawyers and support personnel specializing in distinct disciplines of finance, real estate, corporate, tax, securities, bankruptcy and creditor's rights - together with a nationwide network of local counsel. This translates into state-of-the-art loan and servicing documentation, and a problem-solving, proactive transaction approach focused on positive outcomes that is as borrower-friendly as possible without compromising lender and servicer interests.
Members of our real estate finance group have particular knowledge and experience in the defeasance of securitized loans. Defeasance is used in connection with refinancing a CMBS loan or a sale or other disposition of real property securing a CMBS loan and involves the substitution of U.S. government-backed securities for the real estate collateral. The obligation to make loan payments is not terminated and continues until the maturity date, but the real estate is released upon completion of the defeasance. The securities are pledged to the lender and provide the sums necessary to pay the debt when due. Our attorneys assist in all aspects of the defeasance process, including preparation of documentation, structuring the successor borrower which becomes the loan obligor after the defeasance is completed, coordinating approvals from rating agencies, advising on REMIC compliance issues and closing the transaction.
To view our Commercial Mortgage Lending Experience Map, click here.