Sean P. Murphy

Sean Murphy focuses his practice on commercial real estate transactions, real estate development and the leasing of office, multi-family and mixed-use assets. Mr. Murphy has counseled opportunity funds, REITs, real estate developers, owners and lenders in construction and project finance matters and Public Private Partnerships.

In addition, Mr. Murphy frequently represents owners, operators and lenders in the seniors housing and care industry. As outside counsel and as a principal, he has negotiated and closed upon the acquisition, sale and financing of numerous assisted living, skilled nursing, memory care and CCRC portfolios, Medical Office Buildings and specialty healthcare-related assets throughout the United States.

In 2010, Mr. Murphy co-founded a Registered Investment Advisor business focused on debt investments secured by real estate assets, Wakefield Capital Management, Inc., where he served as Chief Operating Officer, Chief Compliance Officer and General Counsel.

He also served as EVP, General Counsel and Corporate Secretary of Medical Office Properties, Inc., a private REIT invested in seniors housing and medical office buildings, and he co-founded Chain Bridge Capital LLC, a private real estate investment partnership that served as the joint venture partner of a public healthcare REIT that acquired hundreds of assets throughout the United States.

Outside his real estate work, Mr. Murphy counsels issuers and investors in private placements, as well as emerging companies in venture capital and angel investment financings.

He has provided asset management and transactional services on behalf of investment and advisory firms, and represented the mid-Atlantic’s first venture capital fund specializing in genomics.

As a co-founder and board member of a medical products company, Mr. Murphy has first-hand experience with raising angel and venture capital funding. Earlier in his career, Mr. Murphy was a Federal Trial Attorney at the U.S. Department of Justice, where he handled trials and appeals involving government contracts, construction and general commercial disputes.

Representative Matters:

• Represented developer and owner of a seniors housing facility in Westhampton, New York in connection with a $21 million HUD-insured permanent financing.
• Assisted client with acquisition and financing of $20 million off-campus student housing project servicing University of Arizona.
• Represented a publicly-traded healthcare REIT in a number of dispositions, including the sale of skilled nursing facilities in the Northeast and Midwest US.
• Represented Voxx International Corporation and a majority of its U.S. and foreign subsidiaries in a $155 million syndicated, secured, asset-based loan facility extended by Wells Fargo, Citibank, Key Bank and HSBC.
• Handled as EVP & General Counsel for a private REIT, Medical Office Properties, Inc., and a real estate investment partnership, Chain Bridge Capital LLC, the raising of equity capital from two SEC Rule 144A offerings to institutional investors.
• Advised concerning the sale of a portfolio of 10 assisted living and memory care assets for $95 million to a private equity investor.
• Handled as General Counsel the closing of a $24 million construction loan with purchase options for the ground-up development of six assisted living and memory care facilities and acquisition of related Certificates of Need from state healthcare regulatory agencies.
• Represented Chase Manhattan in litigation alleging breach of promissory notes. Successfully argued that while Chase Manhattan breached its agreement to assign the corporations’ notes when it could not locate the notes, the corporations failed to mitigate damages when they refused Chase’s offered assignment and indemnity agreement.
• Successfully represented a large construction contractor in litigation concerning whether a state statute relating to construction bonds prevented a federal court sitting in diversity from having subject matter jurisdiction.

Education:

• Georgetown University Law Center, J.D., 1989
• Georgetown University, M.A., with high honors, Real Estate Finance and Development, 2012
• Georgetown University, B.S.F.S., 1985

Admissions:

• District of Columbia
• New York
• Florida

Professional Activities:

• National Investment Center for the Seniors Housing & Care Industry (NIC)
• American Seniors Housing Association (ASHA)
• Urban Land Institute (ULI)
• District of Columbia Building Industry Association (DCBIA)
• Association of Corporate Counsel