Thompson & Knight LLP welcomes Partner Michael H. Peskowitz, Counsels Julia Geykhman and Lauren A. Scarantino, and Associates Michael M. Denci and Helen T. Quigley to the Firm’s New York office in the Real Estate and Banking Practice Group.

“Extensive expertise and dedication to client service are among two of the many assets this group of lawyers brings to the Firm,” said William M. O’Connor, the Firm’s New York Office Leader. “Their addition further strengthens our noted Real Estate practice in a variety of areas, including the area of commercial mortgage backed securities origination and restructuring.”

Mr. Peskowitz focuses his practice on commercial real estate finance, representing borrowers and lenders in the full range of debt and equity investment related to the development, ownership, and management of real estate projects. He has over 20 years of experience representing CMBS lenders and investors in the structuring and origination of commercial mortgage loans and mezzanine loans secured by all types of real estate assets. His practice also includes the purchase and sale of mortgage and mezzanine loans, A/B notes, and participation interests, in addition to restructuring these various debt instruments.

While the group has recently focused primarily on commercial real estate finance transactions, representing investment and commercial banks, insurance companies, and other financial institutions in the structuring and origination of commercial real estate loans, both Ms. Scarantino and Ms. Geykhman have a broad range of experience in all aspects of commercial real estate transactions.

The attorneys join Thompson & Knight from Venable LLP in New York.

B&L Management Company, a Willkie client, announced that it sold 24 mid-rise rental apartment buildings, consisting of 997 residential and commercial units located in the Chelsea and Upper East Side of Manhattan, to a joint venture lead by Blackstone Real Estate Partners VIII and Fairstead Capital for a total purchase price of $690 million. This transaction represents one of the largest individual residential asset sales in New York in the past decade and one of the largest sales of an elevator-building residential portfolio in Manhattan history. More >>