People: Lester Bliwise, Senior Counsel

Lester Bliwise

Senior Counsel

New York
Direct: (212) 218-3505
Fax: (917) 344-1259

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Biography

Mr. Bliwise is senior counsel in the Real Estate Department in the New York office of Seyfarth Shaw LLP. Mr. Bliwise practices in the area of commercial real estate and has extensive experience in conventional and capital market mortgage lending, acquisitions and dispositions, joint venture investments, and debt restructurings and workouts. Mr. Bliwise’s practice is national in scope and encompasses all property types, including office, retail, industrial, apartment and hotel properties. He regularly represents insurance companies, commercial and investment banks, pension funds and their advisors, institutional owners and investors, special servicers, and others.

Education

J.D., Brooklyn Law School (1970)
Brooklyn Law Review, (Notes Editor)
B.A., Rutgers University, Rutgers College (1967)

Admissions

New York

Affiliations

Real Property Law Section, New York State Bar Association (Past Chair; Executive Committee Member)
Real Estate Financing Committee, Real Property Law Section, New York State Bar Association (Past Chair)
New York City Bar Association
Real Estate Board of New York (Finance Committee)
International Council of Shopping Centers (U.S. Law Conference Program Committee)
Commercial Real Estate Finance Council (f/n/a Commercial Mortgage Securities Association)
Pension Real Estate Association
Concert Artists Guild (Friend)

Representative Engagements

Represented a venture comprised of a pension fund and a REIT in the sale of a portfolio of 16 retail properties in five states, each subject to separate securitized debt required to be assumed.
Represented an insurance company in the formation, with a non-U.S. pension plan, of a venture to make or acquire $1 billion of commercial mortgage loans.
Represented a leading CMBS special servicer in connection with the defaults and ownership restructuring on a mortgage loan covering a property in New York City, and which included agreements with the mezzanine lender.
Represented a major pension fund in the acquisition and sale of numerous properties including the purchase of a Third Avenue, New York City office building; the purchase of the multi-floor retail portion of a New York City property; the purchase of a landmark office building in Washington, D.C.; the purchase of two adjacent office buildings in Virginia; the sale of a portfolio of 12 industrial properties in several states; and the sale of a regional shopping center in Georgia.
Represented a bank in the restructuring of a series of subordinate mortgage loans covering a Park Avenue, New York, office building and where the owning partnership was a debtor in its parent’s bankruptcy.
Represented a private company whose principal owners were affiliates of an investment bank and investors advised by an institutional advisor in the sale of the landmark New York Marriott East Side Hotel.
Represented a foreign bank in the workout of loans on several New York City retail properties, which ultimately included transfer of the properties to a venture by the owner with new investors.
Represented a national bank as arranger of German investors in a co-investment as a partner in the joint venture acquiring a Park Avenue, New York, office building.
Represented governmental pension funds in the mortgage financing of a mid-town Fifth Avenue, New York office building.
Represented an institutional investor in a capital markets mortgage financing of six student housing properties located in four states. The financing was structured as six separate project mortgage loans with portfolio level guaranties and escrows (including future funding provisions) and levels of cross-collateralization.
Represented a private shopping center owner in the capital markets financing of one of the largest shopping centers in the United States, which included traditional anchors, big box retailers, more than 200 mall tenants, numerous sit-down restaurants and an indoor entertainment complex. Also represented the client in the construction loan financing for the center.
Represented a state retirement system, through its investment advisor, in the workout of a ground lease and leasehold mortgage financing of 11 suburban office buildings in three southern states. This was followed by a deed-in-lieu acquisition of all of the properties

Presentations

Seminar Speaker and Workshop Leader, International Council of Shopping Centers U.S. Shopping Center Law Conference: “Borrowers in Default—Dealing with Everyone in the Capital Stack” (October 2009); “Issues for Borrowers in Capital Market and Other Financings” (October 2006);“Getting a Loan Closed—What Borrowers Want and Need and How to Get There” (October 2005); “Mezzanine Debt—Convergence of Debt and Equity” (October 2004); “Secured Lending in the Current Marketplace—Understanding the Important Legal Issues” (October 2002); “Secured Lending Today—The Key Issues” (October 2001)
Panelist, “Building the Capital Stack: How to Make the Right Capital Decisions for Your Deal,” ICSC and NAIOP, the Commercial Real Estate Development Association 2008 Capital Marketplace Conference (September 2008)
Panelist, “Legal & Tax Aspects of Project-Level Real Estate Workouts, Defaults & Foreclosures,” U.S. Real Estate Opportunity & Private Fund Investing Forum (May 2008)
Panelist, “Real Estate Debt Strategies: Risk-Adjusted Return Opportunities in High-Yield Debt,” U.S. Real Estate Opportunity & Private Fund Investing Forum (May 2007)
Speaker, New York State Bar Association Programs on Advanced Real Estate Practice: “Selected Real Estate Financing Issues for Borrowers” (December 2006); “What’s Happening in CMBS Lending Today” (December 2005); “Issues and Concerns in Mezzanine Financing Transactions” (December 2004), “Construction Lending” (December 2003);“Capital Markets Issues” (December 2002); “Ground Leases and Leasehold Financing” (December 2001, 2000 and 1999)
Panelist, “Commercial Real Estate Financing” (various topics), Practicing Law Institute Programs (February 2005 and 2004, May 2001, June 1999 and 1998, May 1997)
Panelist, “The Relationship Among Co-Lenders When the Deal Goes Bad,” American College of Real Estate Lawyers Conference (April 1997)

Publications

Author, “Understanding Mezzanine Financing,” The Metropolitan Corporate Counsel (April 2004)
Author, “Real Estate Titles,” Chapter on Mortgages, New York State Bar Association (1984, Revised 2nd Ed. 1994, Revised 3rd Ed. 2001)
Author, “Lender Responses to Troubled Loans,” Real Estate Review (Fall 1993), reprinted in Japanese, International Legal Strategy (November 1995)
Author, “Bankruptcy Flaws Now Minimized - Real Estate Implications of the Bankruptcy Reform Act of 1994,” The National Law Journal (January 1995)

Accolades

Fellow, American College of Real Estate Lawyers
Fellow, American College of Mortgage Attorneys
Fellow, New York Bar Foundation
Recipient, 2008 Cornerstone Award from Lawyers Alliance for New York for pro bono efforts supporting nonprofit efforts improving quality of life in low-income neighborhoods in New York City
Named to The Best Lawyers in America in the area of real estate law (2008 - 2011)
Selected for inclusion in New York Super Lawyers (2006-2010)