Robert Brusco

F. Robert Brusco is known across the real estate industry for his outstanding deal-structuring skills and practical business perspective. Clients want him on their side not only for his strategic savvy but his strong industry relationships, which are the product of over 25 years of immersion in commercial real estate.

Rob has a robust, comprehensive practice that represents major investment banks, lending institutions, real estate funds, developers, investors and operators in all types of commercial real estate matters such as acquisition, disposition, financing, joint venture and leasing transactions.

A seasoned practitioner, he has negotiated, structured and closed several billion dollars’ worth of large-scale, complex real estate debt and equity transactions. His broad experience also includes loan participations, sales and syndications as well as real estate asset restructurings, workouts and recovery.

From 2004 to 2012, Rob performed various business and legal roles at Lehman Brothers both prior and subsequent to its bankruptcy. Pre-bankruptcy, he was responsible for originating, structuring and closing mortgage, mezzanine and construction financing, equity investment and line of credit transactions in Lehman’s Global Real Estate Group.

Post-bankruptcy, he served as a Managing Director at LAMCO LLC (a wholly owned subsidiary of Lehman created after its bankruptcy filing), where he led several teams responsible for the asset management, restructuring and workout of $3+ billion in real estate positions owned by the Lehman estate.

As evidenced below, Rob cuts a wide and important swath in the real estate industry, transactionally and geographically.

Experience:

• Multiparty structured settlement of one of the largest consolidated bankruptcy cases filed in California, resulting in ownership and/or control of 15 West Coast land developments with an initial investment value in excess of $2 billion.
• Closing of a $30 million equity investment and $100 million mortgage financing to acquire a Southeast Washington, D.C., land assemblage for development of a 550,000-square-foot mixed-use project with a 200-key boutique hotel and an additional 500,000 square feet of developable FAR.
• Syndication of a $150 million mezzanine loan secured by equity pledges in entities owning a portfolio of 19 hotels among multiple lenders.
• Repositioning of an impaired 300-unit condominium development in Manhattan’s Financial District through foreclosure of $450 million of mortgage and mezzanine debt, construction management of $20 million of project improvements and preservation of critical zoning approvals for the project.
• Closing of $630 million of senior and subordinate mortgage loans to refinance a 1.8 million-square-foot office tower in Midtown Manhattan.
• Negotiated settlement of a syndicated debt facility on behalf of a lender syndicate holding a $235 million first mortgage, resulting in the successful bankruptcy auction of 3 West Coast land developments.
• Closing of a $7.5 million acquisition and $20 million development loan on behalf of a joint venture among multiple regional real estate developers for the purchase and conversion to mixed use of a 400,000-square-foot department store in Newark, NJ.
• Closing of $41.6 million of senior and subordinate mortgage financing under a RIDEA structure for the acquisition and rehabilitation of a branded 319-key hotel, golf and spa resort located in Panama City, Florida.
• Closing of $58 million of construction financing and negotiation of an intercreditor agreement for $20 million of subordinate mezzanine debt for the condominium conversion of a Midtown Manhattan office tower to corporate apartments.
• Closing of $63 million of acquisition, construction and project loans and negotiation of an intercreditor agreement for $14 million of subordinate mezzanine debt in connection with the conversion of a 200+-unit apartment building on Manhattan’s Upper West Side to residential condominium ownership.
• Closing of a multi-tranched $83.4 million acquisition and rehabilitation financing for the purchase of a three-hotel portfolio located in Florida and Louisiana.
• Closing of $70 million of construction financing to develop a 362-unit multifamily tower with structured parking in Tampa, Florida.
• Closing of a $53.5 million mortgage loan with an equity conversion option for the rehabilitation to mixed use of a 1.5 million-square-foot office tower in Dallas, Texas.
• Closing of a $15 million preferred equity investment and $30 million mezzanine loan as well as negotiation of an intercreditor agreement for $120 million of senior mortgage financing in connection with the refinancing of a 20-property industrial portfolio.

EDUCATION:

• JD, Brooklyn Law School, 1992
• BA, Lehigh University, 1987

BAR ADMISSIONS:

• New Jersey
• New York

Memberships:

• Member, NAIOP Commercial Real Estate Development Association
• Member, Mortgage Bankers Association