People: Richard Crystal, Of Counsel

Richard Crystal

Of Counsel

New York
Direct: (212) 218-5268
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Richard Crystal is of counsel in the Real Estate practice group in the New York office of Seyfarth Shaw LLP. Mr. Crystal concentrates his practice on a wide variety of real estate transactions, including joint ventures and limited liability companies, purchases and sales, property development, leasing transactions and financings. His extensive international practice includes the representation of institutional investors and lenders from Germany, the Netherlands and Asia.

Mr. Crystal is a director of the 92nd Street Young Men's and Young Women's Hebrew Association in New York.

Richard Crystal is of counsel in the Real Estate practice group in the New York office of Seyfarth Shaw LLP. Mr. Crystal concentrates his practice on a wide variety of real estate transactions, including joint ventures and limited liability companies, purchases and sales, property development, leasing transactions and financings. His extensive international practice includes the representation of institutional investors and lenders from Germany, the Netherlands and Asia.

Mr. Crystal is a director of the 92nd Street Young Men's and Young Women's Hebrew Association in New York.

Education

  • L.L.B., Harvard Law School (1966)
  • A.B., Harvard University (1962)
    cum laude

Admissions

  • New York

Affiliations

  • Association of Foreign Investors in Real Estate( Former General Counsel and Editor of AFIRE's Guide to U.S. Real Estate Investing)
  • American Bar Association
  • Association of the Bar of the City of New York
  • Oppenheimer Holdings Inc., an NYSE listed regional securities broker (Corporate Director)

Representative Engagements

  • Representing European institutions and a U.S. developer in a mezzanine and equity financing for a multi-state, mixed-use asset pool.
  • Representing a U.S. developer and operator of shopping centers in a joint venture with a major state pension fund to acquire a $500 million multi-state portfolio of shopping centers.
  • Representing a developer of strip shopping centers in the acquisition and $65 million securitized financing of 11 strip centers in Colorado.
  • Representing a shopping center owner in its contribution of assets to an UPREIT partnership of a listed REIT in exchange for partnership interests convertible into common stock of the REIT.
  • Representing a consortium of European insurance companies in providing $700 million of equity to a developer of urban mixed-use (entertainment / retail / hotel / condominium) towers throughout the United States.
  • Representing a New York based, foreign owned investment bank in the unwinding of various multi-state real estate development joint ventures, including a 1031 partial liquidation with a REIT and the sale of various membership interests to venture partners.
  • Representing a European mortgage bank in refinancing of CBD office towers and retail properties throughout the United States.
  • Representing a developer in site assemblage, development, construction and sale of an office/warehouse facility for lease to the federal government.

Publications

  • “Current Challenges Facing an Investor in a Real Estate Fund or Venture, AFIRE News, Vol. 23, No. 5, Co-authored with David Warburg and Stanley Jutkowitz (September 2009)