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Financing

Financing usually is essential for development projects. We represent both lenders and developers in negotiating, documenting and administering the following:

• Acquisition loans
• Construction loans
• Permanent loans

Lenders like working with our real estate lawyers because we understand the criteria used by lenders to approve, administer and enforce loans. Lenders do not spend money educating our lawyers about the criteria.

We also represent clients in workouts and deed-in-lieu of foreclosure transactions.

When borrowers default, we work with lenders to develop strategies to collect the loan, including foreclosing and disposing of collateral.

Examples of Financings

Financings our real estate lawyers have worked on include

• $25 million construction loan for the renovation of the old Nordstrom building in downtown Seattle
• $12 million joint venture with a real estate acquisition company
• $42 million construction loan for a major regional shopping center
• More than $125 million in 75 separate transactions on behalf of a single lender
• Over $200 million in construction and land loans on behalf of three cross-border banks
• Synthetic leases, which provide the tax advantages of property ownership without the assumption of liability for purposes of accounting and securities regulation reporting

We also act as local counsel in rendering third-party legal opinions on loans and other secured transactions. Our lawyers, for example, served as local counsel for a $70 million refinancing of a shopping center.

In addition to representing lenders and borrowers in traditional financing transactions, we represent developers raising equity financing through private placements. This representation includes negotiating financing terms and preparing disclosure documents required by the securities laws.