Steven Simkin, chair of the Real Estate Department, maintains an active practice in major development projects, acquisitions and financings. His clients include major developers, investors, real estate investment trusts, institutional and private equity lenders, funds, and public and private institutions. He also has significant experience with workouts, restructurings and dispute resolutions integrating litigation, bankruptcy and tax expertise. He speaks regularly at industry symposiums and conferences on lease negotiations and writes on complex financing issues.

His numerous development transactions include representing the landowner in connection with:

• redevelopment of the Gramercy Park Hotel
• redevelopment and coop conversion of the Stanhope Hotel
• negotiation of a 99-year ground lease with a developer for a high-rise apartment complex that will include both market-rate and affordable housing components in West Chelsea
• redevelopment of 470 Vanderbilt Avenue in Fort Greene, Brooklyn, into a mixed-use facility including office, retail, residential and cultural space
• renovation and modernization of the historic Breslin Hotel in the Chelsea neighborhood of Manhattan 
• a ground lease covering the lower floors and amenity facility of a new East Side residential condominium
• renegotiation of a long-term ground lease between The Cooper Union for the Advancement of Science and Art and Edward J. Minskoff Properties allowing for the development of a 370,000-square-foot mixed-use retail, educational and office property at 51 Astor Place
• assisting American Continental with identifying, structuring and ultimately implementing ways to maximize the potential of land owned on Amsterdam Avenue north of Lincoln Center.

Additional development experience includes representing:

• Gemini Real Estate Advisors, LLC in the acquisition of a land parcel and development rights from an adjacent parcel for a boutique hotel in the Union Square area of New York City
• Rose Associates on construction-related agreements for a large-scale residential project in New York City
• Service Employees International Union (SEIU) in development of a site adjacent to its headquarters with frontage along West 42nd Street and West 43rd Street in Manhattan
• Las Vegas Sands Hotel in the development of construction projects, casinos and shopping centers
• the developers of a $250 million development in South Beach, Florida
• Starwood Hotels and Resorts Worldwide in the development of a luxury hotel at 46th Street and Broadway and in connection with both management contracts and hotel development in Boston, Miami and Los Angeles
• a Japanese insurance company in connection with a major office building in London
• New York City developers, including George Klein, Harry Macklowe, Bruce Eichner, Sheldon Solow, Rose Associates, Rockrose Development Company and Newmark & Company; and Memorial Sloan-Kettering, Howard Hughes Medical Institute, Saks & Company and Metromedia in a number of major real estate transactions.

Mr. Simkin also has considerable experience representing clients in sales, acquisitions and financings, including involvement in multi-state mortgage financings on behalf of both lenders and borrowers and the formation of a real estate fund to purchase "B" notes and provide mezzanine financing for hotels, office buildings and residential developments. His experience includes representations of:

• Gemini Real Estate Advisors, LLC in connection with the acquisition and financing of three select service hotels in the Madison Square Park and Times Square areas of New York City
• Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center in connection with the purchase of individual condominium units, the purchase pf a significant commercial parcel, the acquisition of the land and buildings in White Plains, and with various leasing transactions
• SL Green in numerous sales, financings and loan restructurings
• United American Land in selling the first six of 11 parcels, comprising an assemblage in Downtown Brooklyn, to a developer for a residential/retail complex
• a well-known New York City law firm in its purchase and financing of a downtown Manhattan property
• affiliates of the Shubert Organization, Inc. and Jujamcyn Theater Company, two of the largest Broadway theater owners in New York, in closing sales of air rights of hundreds of thousands of square feet over several historic Broadway theaters
• $1.3 billion financing for the Columbus Centre project
• $250 million financing for the State Street Bank headquarters building in Boston
• $335 million financing to Lucent Technology, Inc.
• $3.3 billion World Trade Center acquisition
• $750 million purchase of Citigroup Center
• Sumitomo Corporation in the sale of 600 Third Avenue and the purchase of 123 Mission Street in San Francisco
• the acquisition of 95 Wall Street
• purchasers of the Barneys real estate in New York, Chicago and Los Angeles
• purchasers of 568 Broadway, Fred F. French Building and 10 South La Salle Street, Chicago, Illinois
• Simon Property Group Inc. in the largest initial public offering of a real estate investment trust
• Zurich Insurance Company and Insurance Partners in the acquisition of Kemper Life Insurance Company and the bulk sale of a vast quantity of Kemper's commercial REO properties and loan portfolios.

Mr. Simkin's practice also focuses on real estate-related litigations and disputes. His work includes representing:

• Citigroup with the restructuring of its mortgage loan on the Chrysler headquarters in Auburn Hills, Michigan and in disputes involving multimillion regional shopping center in Syracuse, New York
• Citigroup in connection with enforcing its rights under $410 million of mortgage and mezzanine loans on the Carousel Mall and Destiny expansion
• Gemini Real Estate Advisors in the acquisition of three mortgage loans, each encumbering one of Gemini’s New York City select service hotels, and the financing of the acquisition through a repurchase facility
• the founders and owners of Rockrose Development Corp. in a division of the multibillion dollar real estate company
• a hedge fund client in connection with the restructuring of a mortgage loan secured by a large brownfield development site on the Hudson River waterfront by consummating a transfer of the property in its entirety to the client in lieu of foreclosure of the loan
• restructuring a $370 million construction mortgage loan for South Beach, Florida hotel
• Zurich Alternative Asset Management, LLC with the rent reappraisal under a ground lease
• SL Green Realty Corp. in a dispute concerning the exercise of an option to acquire interests in a commercial condominium unit
• Crunch, a major New York City-based health and fitness chain, in a rent reset dispute with the landlord of its flagship gym
• the fee owner of a midtown Manhattan office building in a rent reset proceeding under a decades-old ground lease
• a prominent New York City-based hedge fund manager in the restructuring of a mortgage loan secured by a large brownfield development site on the Hudson River, providing for a consensual transfer in lieu of foreclosure upon the occurrence of certain events
• the owner of the Park Central Hotel in a dispute with its lenders including a reorganization in bankruptcy
• George Klein and Park Tower Realty in connection with a dispute with Prudential Life Insurance Company concerning the 42nd Street Redevelopment and in a dispute with Dai-Ichi Life Insurance Company in connection with 65 East 55th Street
• Boston Properties in a dispute with a major tenant
• Kennedy family in a dispute over the D&D Building in New York City
• developers of a large multi-use project on Union Square in San Francisco in a dispute with NatWest Bank
• owners of 525 Madison Avenue in a litigated partnership dispute
• Saks & Company in a dispute with Swiss Bank concerning the Swiss Bank Tower in New York City
• developers of a several thousand acre residential community in Florida in connection with disputes with lenders and partners
• Beneficial Finance Company in evaluating claims in connection with a variety of real estate investments
• a New York City developer in a multi-state, multi-property litigation involving both secured and unsecured debt.

Mr. Simkin has broad experience in the area of commercial office leasing, and has been a regular panelist in the annual symposiums conducted by the New York Law Journal titled "Mastering the Art of Negotiating the Modern Lease." He has completed office lease negotiations for the headquarters of HBO and NASDAQ. Mr. Simkin has also handles prominent store lease deals around New York City for both landlords and tenants, including:

• a landlord on leasing retail space on Madison Avenue to Kimaya, a luxury goods store based in India, for its first U.S. location
• Dahesh Museum of Art in the termination of the sublease for its longtime Madison Avenue location and the takeover of the premises by Bonhams, a U.K.-based auctioneer of fine art and antiques
• the owner of the landmarked building at 717 Madison Avenue in the leasing of boutique space for Devi Kroell, the famed designer and retailer of luxury handbags
• the landlord in the leasing and renovation of 710 Madison Avenue to house a new flagship location for London-based jeweler Graff Diamonds
• Trespa International, a Dutch architectural design company, in its lease of a historic space in Soho for use as a showroom and design center -- a key element of the client's expansion in the U.S. market
• the owner of property located at Brooklyn Renaissance Plaza, a hotel/office/retail development near the Brooklyn Bridge, in a lease to Morton's The Steakhouse for the restaurant chain's first outer-borough location
• an affiliate of Time Warner, Inc. in connection with a new sublease with Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. following Lehman's rejection in bankruptcy of its previous sublease in the Time-Life Building, located at 1271 Avenue of the Americas.

With his involvement in the purchase, sale or financing of several hundred regional malls, Mr. Simkin's shopping center experience is extensive. Equitable, Simon Properties, Taubman, Federated Department Stores, Saks & Company, Jerry J. Moore Companies and Devon Properties are among his list of clients. He has also been a principal speaker at the International Conference of Shopping Centers' Annual Meeting discussing the acquisition of regional malls.

Mr. Simkin is a cum laude graduate of both the University of Pennsylvania college and law school, where he was an assistant editor of the University of Pennsylvania Law Review. He has been a partner since 1982. In addition to his practice, he serves as chair of the firm's Space Committee. He has served as a member of the Executive Committee of the Real Property Section of the New York State Bar Association and is currently on the Advisory Board of First American Title Insurance Company and Commonwealth Title Insurance Company. He is on the Boards of the New York University Real Estate Institute, the New York Junior Tennis League and the Dahesh Museum of Art. Mr. Simkin is included in the International Who's Who in Real Estate Lawyers, Euromoney's Guide to the World's Leading Real Estate Lawyers, Chambers Global and USA Leading Business Lawyers, Best Lawyers and has been selected by the Real Estate Board of New York as one of the most influential persons in New York City.