Doug Heitner represents clients in a full range of complex debt and equity real estate transactions.

Doug leverages his extensive experience, both as an external legal advisor and in-house, and sophisticated understanding of the real estate market to advise real estate private equity sponsors, public and private real estate investment trusts (REITs), and privately held real estate operating companies on a wide range of real estate transactions, including:

  • Joint ventures and recapitalizations
  • Financings throughout the capital structure, including mortgage and mezzanine loans as well as preferred equity joint venture structures
  • Developments
  • Public and private projects
  • Portfolio and single-asset purchases and sales
  • Real estate M&A

Before joining the firm, Doug served as the Chief Legal Officer at Safehold (formerly iStar), where his complex real estate work involved asset-based transactions, as well as public capital markets and real estate M&A.

Doug's representative experience includes advising:

Real Estate M&A

  • iStar on its merger with Safehold to create the only public company purely focused on using ground leases as an alternative financing structure*

Real Estate Capital Markets

  • Safehold on:
    • Numerous unsecured corporate debt offerings, both private and public*
    • Numerous common equity offerings*
  • Numerous sponsors on initial public bond offerings on the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange*

Real Estate Finance/Ground Lease

  • Safehold on developing its modern ground lease program, which manifested in over 100 ground lease transactions across all asset classes and stages of development for US$5 billion+ in transactions since 2019*
  • LNR Partners on several loan workouts/restructurings*
  • Starwood Capital Group on acquiring and participating in mezzanine debt secured by the Standard Hotel in Manhattan*
  • Slate Property Group on a joint venture with the Carlyle Group to establish Scale Lending, a US$1 billion lending platform*
  • Midtown Equities on securing US$280 million in mortgage and mezzanine loans to refinance Empire Stores in Brooklyn, New York*

Purchase and Sale

  • iStar on the US$3 billion sale of its net lease portfolio to Carlyle Global Credit*
  • Starwood Capital Group on acquiring 1372 Broadway in Manhattan*
  • Green Oak Real Estate on:
    • A joint venture to acquire and finance two office assets in Long Island City, New York*
    • Acquiring the Royalton Hotel in Manhattan*
  • Turnbridge Equities on acquiring and developing commercial properties in Miami, Florida; and Austin, Texas*
  • AEW Capital on acquiring and financing a residential condominium development project in Long Island City, New York*
  • U.S. Realty Advisors on numerous sale leaseback transactions across the country*

Real Estate Development Transactions

  • The Witkoff Group and New Valley on acquiring, financing, and developing the Marriott Edition in Times Square*
  • A large developer on several high-profile developments, including:
    • A US$650 million mortgage and mezzanine loan for a luxury multifamily construction project at 626 First Avenue in Manhattan known as the American Copper Buildings*
    • A US$137 million construction loan as part of the final funding for the Monad Terrace project in South Beach, Miami*
    • Acquiring, joint venturing, financing, and developing the US$1 billion mixed-use Steinway project at 105-111 West 57th Street in Manhattan*
    • Acquiring, joint venturing, financing, and developing the US$800 million mixed-use Brooklyn Tower at 9 Dekalb in Brooklyn*
  • JEMB Realty on a four-year, US$235 million loan and a US$60 million EB-5 mezzanine loan to construct One Willoughby Square, a 500,000-square-foot, 36-story office tower in downtown Brooklyn, New York*
  • Steiner NYC on:
    • Negotiating a long-term ground lease with the Brooklyn Navy Yard Development Corporation and a related US$150 million mortgage loan to construct a mixed-use facility in Brooklyn, New York*
    • Developing and financing a multifamily project in Brooklyn*
    • Developing and financing a for-sale condo project in Manhattan*
  • Icon Realty Management on securing a US$425 million mortgage loan from Bank of the Ozarks and a mezzanine loan from Apollo Commercial Real Estate Finance to construct two condominium towers on Manhattan’s Upper East Side*
  • GFI Capital on the US$425 million acquisition and financing of the Parker New York Hotel in Manhattan and on negotiating a joint venture*

Bar Qualification

  • New York

Education

  • JD, New York University, 2006
  • BA, Dartmouth College, 2002