Peter E. Fisch

A partner in the Real Estate Department, Peter Fisch regularly represents developers, entrepreneurial investors, institutional investors, lenders and other parties in all aspects of transactional real estate, including acquisitions and dispositions, joint ventures, conventional and securitized financings, workouts, sale-leasebacks, management contracts, leasing and investment funds, involving a balance of office, retail, hotel, multifamily and industrial properties and development rights and commercial condominium regimes.

Experience

Peter's recent experience in the acquisition, disposition and recapitalization of major real estate assets includes:

• Multiple sales, acquisitions and recapitalizations for SL Green Realty Corp., a publicly traded REIT, involving 3 Columbus Circle, 110 East 42nd Street, 485 Lexington Avenue, 292 Madison Avenue, 885 Third Avenue, 2 Herald Square and 521 Fifth Avenue with an aggregate value in excess of $1 billion.
• For Apollo Global Real Estate, in a joint venture with Chartres Lodging Group, the pending $274 million sale of the Novotel New York Times Square, located at 226 W. 52nd St. in the heart of Manhattan's theatre district, to Millennium & Copthorne Hotels, a publicly traded UK-based hotel operator.
• For The Lightstone Group and its publicly traded REIT affiliate, the sale of Dakota Square Mall, a regional mall in Minot, North Dakota, and the $2.3 billion sale of the 24-property Prime Retail outlet center portfolio to Simon Property Group.
• Acquisition of the Dream Downtown Hotel, and negotiation of a hotel operating agreement, on behalf of Sahara India Pariwar.
• Acquisitions of several New York City hotels for Gemini Real Estate Advisors valued in excess of $500 million, including the acquisition of land and development rights for development of the Jade Hotel in the Union Square area.
• Acquisition of mixed-use properties in the Meatpacking District and Chelsea on behalf of The Yucaipa Companies.
• Acquisition and recapitalization of the Savoy Hotel in Miami Beach for a prominent real estate investor.
• Sale of The Castle on Hudson, a historic hotel and event space in Westchester County, New York.

Peter also has extensive experience representing both operating and capital partners in complex joint ventures, including:

• Representation of The Lightstone Group and its affiliate Paragon Retail Partners in a $500 million joint venture with a NYSE-listed shopping center REIT to develop retail outlet centers in Texas and California and a pending joint venture to develop a retail outlet center in the Midwest.
• Representation of Rose Associates as the development partner in a joint venture to convert the landmarked former AIG headquarters at 70 Pine Street into a luxury rental building, a joint venture for the ground-up development of a 360-unit multifamily building on Livingston Street in downtown Brooklyn, and a pending joint venture transaction to develop an 80/20 multifamily building in Manhattan.
• For SL Green Realty Corp., a $500 million joint venture with The Moinian Group to recapitalize and reposition 3 Columbus Circle in New York, and joint ventures with Capelli Properties and Onyx Equities for investments in office properties in suburban New York.
• Representation of Apollo Global Real Estate in platform joint ventures to acquire office and mixed-use properties in the Southeastern United States and to acquire industrial properties nationwide.
• Joint ventures for Gemini Real Estate Advisors with partners including The City Investment Fund, The Carlyle Group, Related Companies and a New York based hedge fund to acquire several New York City hotels.
• For The Yucaipa Companies, a joint venture to acquire a mixed-use building in the Meatpacking District with the Cayre family.

Peter also focuses a significant portion of his practice on complex financings, debt acquisitions and restructurings and preferred equity transactions involving CMBS and portfolio lenders, including:

• Representation of Citigroup Global Realty in the global settlement of multiple litigations with The Pyramid Companies that resulted in the successful restructuring of over $500 million of mortgage and mezzanine debt secured by the Carousel Center mall and DestiNY USA expansion located in Syracuse, New York.
• Several acquisition financings and refinancings totaling well over $1 billion for SL Green Realty Corp. relating to 100 Park Avenue, 28 W. 44th Street, 3 Columbus Circle, 485 Lexington Avenue and 100 Church Street in New York City, Landmark Square in Stamford, Connecticut and the Meadows office complex in New Jersey, as well as the acquisition of six tranches of mezzanine debt secured by 280 Park Avenue in New York City.
• Origination of a resort land development loan, and a subsequent restructuring of the loan, for Capmark Finance secured by oceanfront property on the Big Island in Hawaii, as well as an $80 million preferred equity investment for a joint venture between Capmark and an opportunity fund secured by a 13-property multifamily portfolio in the mid-Atlantic.
• A New York based hedge fund in the origination and restructuring of a mortgage loan secured by a riverfront brownfield development site in Yonkers, New York and a subsequent deed in lieu of foreclosure in satisfaction of the loan.
• A joint venture of Allied Partners and the Cayre family to refinance the Prince Building at 568 Broadway in SoHo.
• Gemini Real Estate Advisors in multiple mortgage and mezzanine financings for its New York City franchised hotels, and in the acquisition of a pool of hotel mortgage loans and the sale of a senior participation interest therein.

In addition to the above referenced matters, Peter's other recent experience includes:

• Representation of Lincoln Center Theater in connection with its long-term lease for the Vivian Beaumont Theater and the Mitzi Newhouse Theater and administrative offices, and in connection with the development of the new Claire Tow Theater on the rooftop of its existing building on the Lincoln Center campus.
• Representation of Caesars Entertainment Corporation, the world's most diversified gaming company, in a joint venture with Rock Gaming to finance the construction of casino and related hotel and retail facilities in Cleveland and Cincinnati, Ohio, and in the restructuring its management arrangements and income interests in connection with a transfer in lieu of foreclosure by Westgate Resorts of the timeshare tower located near the Planet Hollywood Hotel and Casino.
• Several hotel management agreements for Starwood Hotels and Resorts (for W, Westin and St. Regis hotels) and Las Vegas Sands Corp. (for Four Seasons, Shangri-La, Starwood, Hilton, Fairmont and Intercontinental hotels in Macau) and Sahara India Pariwar (for the Dream Downtown Hotel).
• Numerous sale leaseback transactions for various clients involving industrial properties, headquarters campuses, and Checkers, Ryan's, Buffets, and Portillo's Hot Dogs restaurants and Chuck E. Cheese entertainment venues.
• Review of multiple real estate fund investments on behalf of The Rockefeller Foundation.

Peter's work has earned him recognition as a leading Real Estate lawyer by both The Legal 500 and Chambers USA. He is a frequent contributor of articles regarding new developments in real estate transactional law to prominent trade publications, including the Real Estate Finance Journal and the National Law Journal, and co-authors a regular column on transactional real estate law for the New York Law Journal.

He is a member of the Board of Directors of the Yale Law School Fund.

Practices

• Real Estate
  

Education

• J.D., Yale Law School, 1989
• B.A., University of Pennsylvania, 1986
  summa cum laude, Phi Beta Kappa

Bar Admissions

• New York

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