Miller Starr Regalia’s Financial Services Practice Group offers a sophisticated and broad range of legal services to lenders and borrowers in secured and unsecured financing transactions, representing major banks and other significant institutions as well as select financial commercial real estate developers and property owners. We represent our clients in a wide variety of matters including commercial real estate financing, creditors’ rights, loan acquisition and disposition, loan workouts and foreclosure; and bank real estate operations and branch leasing.
Commercial Project Financing
The firm’s Commercial Project Financing practice includes extensive experience and expertise in the prudent, efficient and cost-effective structuring, negotiating, and documenting of all aspects of commercial real estate and construction loans on behalf of banks and other financial institutions. Among the types of transactions the firm customarily handles are:
- Residential construction lending, including standard construction loans, revolving lines of credit and acquisition and development loans
- Commercial and specialty construction lending, including shopping center development, health care facilities, churches, hotel construction, data center financing and affordable housing projects
- Borrowing base financing, both secured and unsecured, for residential builders and other commercial real estate developers
- Mini-perm and long-term financing for commercial real estate, including office projects, retail shopping centers and specialty real estate such as hotel and resort properties
- Leasehold financing, including industrial, residential and hotel financing on ground leased land
- Syndication and participation of all of the above types of financing transactions, and negotiation of intercreditor relationships between senior and mezzanine lenders
Workouts and Foreclosure Group
The firm’s Workout and Foreclosure Group combines the expertise and insight of transactional and litigation attorneys with years of experience representing banks and other institutional lenders in the process of loan restructuring, workouts and the exercise of remedies against borrowers and third parties under commercial real estate and construction financing programs. Drawing on prior involvement in these issues during previous down cycles in the real estate economy as well as cutting edge developments of law and practice in the field, this practice group provides proactive and cost effective advice, structuring, negotiation and litigation representation in the following:
- Pre-litigation advice and due diligence for troubled loans, including the analysis of default positions and remedies and the evaluation of alternative strategies for maximizing recovery.
- Structuring, negotiating and documenting complex workout transactions, including loan modifications, extensions and forbearances, friendly foreclosures, credit enhancements and additional collateral transactions, deeds in lieu of foreclosure, and a broad variety of pre-bankruptcy and post bankruptcy workout structures involving residential and commercial construction loans and other complex project financing.
- Foreclosing on real and personal property collateral, both judicially and nonjudicially, and pursuing ancillary or provisional creditor remedies such as attachment, receivership and collection actions; and litigating against guarantors and others with recourse liability.
- Recovery on bonds, letters of credit and other security, and advice and assistance on title insurance, stop notice and mechanics’ lien claims and priorities.
Distressed Real Property Group
This firm’s Distressed Real Property Practice Group is comprised of attorneys deeply experienced in land development, finance, land use and environmental law. This group provides a multidisciplinary approach based on the firm’s 40-year history of providing legal services to national and regional banks and financial institutions, commercial developers, homebuilders, title companies, investors and retailers on distressed and special opportunity real estate matters. This includes:
- A direct understanding of virtually all types of real estate assets
- Due diligence and assessment of entitlement status, including land use, zoning and environmental issues, subdivision improvement and development obligations and bonds.
- Evaluation and assessment of leasing and other contractual obligations affecting complex real estate assets.
- Governmental processing and preservation of asset values reflected in unrealized use permits, plan development permits, subdivision maps, development agreements and other land use entitlements.
- Negotiating and structuring complex real estate transactions
- Advising lenders on disposing of real estate owned assets including residential subdivisions, golf courses and resort properties, shopping centers, office buildings, hotels, industrial properties and tenancy-in-common and fractional interests
- Assistance in buying troubled properties, purchasing loans, and emerging from the foreclosure processes
Bank Operating Real Estate and Branch Leasing
The firm regularly represents banks and other major corporations in the leasing, acquisition and development of operating real estate. This includes extensive experience in the negotiation of leases for tenants and shopping centers, high-rise office buildings, industrial parks, as well as stand-alone leasing; many of which include issues associated with parking requirements, American with Disabilities Act compliance, land use and zoning compliance and ATM installation and operations.
