Carl Schwartz

Carl F. Schwartz has been lead counsel on some of the highest-profile real estate deals around the country. He takes an incisive approach to structuring and closing complex transactions, combining creativity with a strong business perspective.

As a result, his client roster contains the names of many people he once sat across from but now sits next to at the bargaining table. In Chambers USA, 2016, a client described him as “a great lawyer,” “a smart, no-nonsense guy who can come to sensible resolutions and get deals done.” “He is a deal maker, not a deal breaker,” the client added.

Carl is an accomplished negotiator and skilled legal advocate with more than 35 years of experience.

He is co-head of Hunton Andrews Kurth LLP’s global real estate practice and advises a diverse, distinguished clientele: prominent owners and developers—including REITs and private equity funds—in their real estate acquisitions, dispositions, developments, financings, workouts, restructurings and joint ventures; major institutional lenders in mortgage, mezzanine and construction financings; and owners and tenants in significant commercial lease transactions.

He also has served as counsel in several of the nation’s largest Historic Tax Credit transactions.

An active presence in the field, Carl often moderates panel discussions on industry trends. Major media outlets—among them The Wall Street Journal, Crain’s New York Business, CNBC and The Real Deal—frequently seek his insights on real estate law and business.

His professional acumen led to a profile in The New York Times article “Finding a True Passion in Real Estate Law.”

In his spare time, Carl plays bass guitar in the rock band “Normal by Day.” Coupling his musical talent with charity work, he organizes the annual fundraising concert Real Estate Rockers in Relief, which features performances by leading real estate executives and their bands.

Experience:

• Represented Nahla Capital in its $260 million sale of 30 rental apartment buildings, all located in San Francisco, California. The sale also included a reinvestment by the sellers of a portion of the sale proceeds in the purchasing joint venture at closing.
• Represented ASRR 8955 LLC, an affiliate of Israel-based ASRR Capital LTD, in connection with a $90 million construction loan that will fund the development of ultra-luxury condos in Surfside, Florida.
• Represented Pebblebrook Hotel Trust in its dissolution of a partnership with Denihan Hospitality Group in the ownership of six Manhattan hotels.
• Represented DTH Capital Inc. in connection with the sale of 63 and 67 Wall Street. The properties constitute two of the largest Wall Street residential conversions in history, comprise an entire block of Downtown Manhattan and consist of over 800 residential rental apartments.
• Represented Downtown Holdings in the $500 million redevelopment of 70 Pine Street, the former AIG building in Manhattan.
• Represented World Wide Group on a $700 million mixed-use project on East 57th Street in Manhattan. World Wide Group has already constructed two new schools and a Whole Foods at the site, and a 59-story residential tower is planned.
• Represented Savanna, in a joint venture with KBS Capital Advisors, in the acquisition of 110 William Street. The 32-story office tower, sold for $261 million, is located in Manhattan’s Financial District.
• Represented World Wide Group in the $300 million sale of six contiguous buildings on 60th Street in Manhattan directly across from the Bloomingdale’s flagship store. The sale also included the transfer of air rights and zoning bonus certificates incidental to the subject site.
• Represented a Tishman Speyer sponsored fund in the $316.5 million acquisition of One Channel Center, a premier office complex in the revitalized and rapidly developing Seaport District of Boston, Massachusetts.
• Represented a real estate investment trust in conjunction with a large hospitality group that owns six upscale hotels in New York in its $410 million interest-only, nonrecourse secured loan.
• Represented a large REIT in connection with a deed-in-lieu transaction, which included nine office properties located in Kansas, Minnesota, Missouri and Nebraska that secured a $122.6 million securitized loan.
• Represented a commercial real estate developer in a joint venture with a Saudi investor to purchase a development site in the Nolita neighborhood of Manhattan. The site, currently a parking garage, will be redeveloped as a luxury condominium.
• Represented Rockwood Capital in connection with its acquisition of 2 Grand Central Tower in Manhattan.
• Represented a real estate developer in the restructuring of its mortgage financings on an office building located in Las Vegas, Nevada, which was acquired for a premium at the height of the market in 2007. After more than two years of workout discussions, we were able to lead the group to a broad and favorable settlement.
• Represented a leading real estate developer in the $64 million permanent financing of a state-of-the-art, six-story, 138,700-square-foot office building located in Mountain View, California. The property was developed in 2002 and is widely viewed as one of the best buildings in the market.
• Represented DTH Capital Inc. in connection with a $240 million construction loan with respect to 20 Exchange Place, a landmark Art Deco building in New York City.
• Represented a joint venture between two prominent real estate investment companies in the $100 million sale of a portfolio of multifamily buildings, all located on the Upper East Side of Manhattan.
• Represented Cadence Property Group in connection with the origination of a $24.65 million construction loan to renovate and develop the former Radio City Post Office in New York into a new luxury condominium building called The Sorting House.
• Represented RBH Group in connection with the $150 million Teachers Village project, a mixed-use development that former Newark Mayor Cory Booker says will “transform downtown Newark.”

EDUCATION:

• JD, Boston College Law School, 1979
• BS, Union College, 1976

BAR ADMISSIONS:

• New York