About

Paul M. Schwartz joined the firm in 2009 and is a member of our Real Estate Practice Group and our Joint Venture practice.  Paul focuses his practice on all of the fundamental components of commercial real estate law, including, joint ventures, acquisitions, sales, borrower-side financings, and restructurings relating to all types of complex commercial real estate transactions and on a national basis.  His Joint Venture practice often focuses on “Platform” or “Programmatic” on behalf of financial institutions that are seeking to make larger, longer-term investments and has a reputation for being a “business lawyer”, who takes a creative, and solution-oriented approach to complex and often novel issues in order to help his clients achieve these business goals.

Paul also counsels and represents landlords and tenants in large-scale office, retail, industrial, and ground lease transactions, regularly representing many prominent New York City and national landlords with their office leasing portfolios.  

Paul predominantly represents large financial institutions, and local and national developers/operators, in complicated joint venture transactions and, in most cases, the underlying real estate transactions.  Beyond providing legal counsel, clients value the business introductions that Paul regularly makes between clients and prospective deals or business partners.

When Paul is not helping his clients close commercial real estate transactions, he enjoys spending time with his family (including his dog Ollie), coaching his boys playing sports, avidly rooting on his sports teams, and collecting sports cards. 

Paul is a member of the Firm’s opinion committee, is an active member of the mentoring programs and initiatives both internally and externally at A&S, and also participates in a variety of the firm’s pro bono initiatives, including assistance in helping immigration clients obtain U-Visa and asylum applications, as well as commercial leasing and corporate services for small businesses.  

He is admitted to practice in New York.

Notable Transaction Expertise:

  • Three separate acquisitions of a portfolio of manufactured housing sites located across fourteen States, valued at over $2 billion, in the aggregate and the eventual disposition of same.

  • The acquisition, financing and joint venture structuring of a ground lessee interest in real property located at 680 Madison Avenue, New York, New York and the improvements thereon.  Subsequently represented the joint venture in the redevelopment and $200 million multi-lender construction financing for a luxury Manhattan residential development on behalf of the joint venture (which was later upsized to $350 million dollars) and the eventual disposition of the ground leasehold interest subject to a partial leaseback.

  • The acquisition of a $245 million six property multi-family portfolio containing 2,200 units on behalf of a joint venture of a major real estate investment fund and residential landlord from another large investment fund, including the concurrent assumption of existing indebtedness, the negotiation and documentation of additional indebtedness and sale of a portion of the portfolio.

  • Counseled a nationally recognized private equity fund in the acquisition of a destressed urban shopping mall involving purchase of a defaulted loan from a lender in bankruptcy, settlement of ongoing litigation among multiple stakeholders, negotiation of a joint venture with a nationally recognized investment partner, and closing of an institutional financing and a subsequent refinancing.

  • Representation of an operating partner in connection with the recapitalization and refinancing of a joint venture with respect to the development of a mixed use development in New York City.

  • The acquisition, financing and joint venture structuring of a ground lessee interest in real property located at 67-70 Charlton Street, New York, New York, and the subsequent construction financing of such property in connection with the proposed development of a high-end residential cooperative thereon.

  • The acquisition of a portfolio of seven office buildings located in San Diego, California and the assumption of each individual mortgage encumbering each property.

  • The acquisition and financing of a portfolio of grocery stores located throughout New England.

  • The acquisition, restructuring, financing and eventual sale of a portfolio of self-storage centers located across the State of Florida and valued at approximately $50 million.

  • The acquisition of multiple loans held by an investment banking institution, which encumbered more than 20 hotels located in 9 states and, simultaneously with such acquisition, the negotiation of deeds-in-lieu of foreclosure from the more than 20 separate borrowers that owned those hotels.

  • The acquisition of partially entitled and raw land in Florida.

  • The preferred equity investment in two shopping centers located in Tennessee and Kentucky.

Recognitions:

  • Super Lawyers: New York Metro Rising Star: 2014, 2020 - 2024