Douglas Heitner

Mr. Heitner’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*