David C. Cook is a partner at Foley & Lardner LLP, and is a member of the Real Estate Practice. His practice is focused on retail, commercial and multi-family development and finance. Over the past four years, a significant portion of Mr. Cook's work has involved the acquisition and disposition of multi-asset portfolios, both negotiated and auctioned transactions, involving multi-family, timberland, retail shopping centers, medical office buildings, and commercial buildings. In addition, over the past 13 years, Mr. Cook has gained extensive knowledge in the acquisition/disposition of timberlands, having acted as counsel to investors, lenders, purchasers and trustees in numerous timberland transactions involving in excess of 2 million acres located throughout the Southeastern United States.
Recent Representative Matters:
· Counsel for NYSE REIT in acquisition of 101 shopping center portfolio valued at $2.7 billion
· Representation of investor in connection with the acquisition of a portion of International Paper's 5.1 million acre timber portfolio - generally recognized as the largest private land sale since the Louisiana Purchase
· Representation of Florida based company in acquisition of apartment projects and subsequent conversions to condominiums, total aggregate acquisition value over 15 month period in excess of $1.4 billion
· Representation of California based company in financing and acquisition of three apartment portfolios involving a total of 40 apartment projects located in Florida, Texas, Colorado and Maryland with an aggregate acquisition price in excess of $1.5 billion
· Representation of US subsidiary of Canadian REIT in the restructure of approximately 140 healthcare properties secured by $650 million of mortgage debt and involving a master lease structure
· Representation of Seller of 18,000 acres in St. Johns and Flagler Counties, Florida
· Representation of California based client in acquisition of medical office building portfolio consisting of 14 properties located in Arizona, Florida, Maryland and Indiana
· Representation of Florida based client in joint venture with institutional investor in acquisition program of medical office buildings and hospitals throughout the U.S.
· Representation of Fortune 250 company in connection with acquisition and expansion of its corporate campus, with synthetic lease financing
· Representation of investors in acquisition and subsequent disposition of 300,000 acres of timberland located in Georgia valued in excess of $400 million
· Representation of life insurance company in connection with $86 million construction loan for high-rise waterfront apartment project
· Representation of lead lender in syndicated loans totaling in excess of $450 million for a multi-project/multi-state joint venture involving construction of condominium projects within destination resorts
· Representation of owners in structuring the acquisition of an office building portfolio valued in excess of $350 million
Mr. Cook is a graduate of the United States Military Academy at West Point and served in the U.S. Army from 1980-86, attaining the rank of Captain. He received his J.D. degree, with honors, from the University of Florida in 1988.
Mr. Cook has been Peer Review Rated as AV® Preeminent™, the highest performance rating in Martindale-Hubbell's peer review rating system and was selected by his peers for inclusion in The Best Lawyers in America® (2009-2012). He is also recognized as one of Florida's Legal Elite™ by Florida Trend magazine (2005-2011); was selected for inclusion in the 2009-2011 Florida Super Lawyers® lists; and was recognized as one of the top real estate attorneys in the state of Florida in 2007 and 2008 by Chambers USA. In 2011, Mr. Cook was a recipient of Foley's Carl Hitchner Mentor of the Year Award. These awards are presented each year to recognize outstanding mentoring by partners and senior counsel.
Mr. Cook is a certified tree farmer as recognized by the American Tree Farm System.