Professional Experience

C. Geoffrey Mitchell is a Partner of the Firm, and has over 35 years of experience in real estate, real estate finance, and related transactional and corporate work involving all types of real estate and representing private developers, institutional and corporate owners, public agencies, investors and lenders. He has broad experience in acquisition, development, disposition, joint ventures and financing, including conventional, securitized, mezzanine, Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, tax-exempt bonds, and other financing sources. Geoff also has extensive experience in retail, office and industrial leasing, ground lease transactions and financing, tax-deferred like-kind exchanges and UPREIT contribution transactions, and loan workouts and restructuring.

Prior to forming Abram Roy LLP, Geoff was a partner with Liner LLP, a partner with McKenna Long & Aldridge LLP, and a shareholder with Brown Winfield Canzoneri Abram.

Notable Matters

• Represented private equity investor in joint venture with a developer to convert a historic building in lower Manhattan into a mixed use retail/residential project with a value in excess of $300 million
• Represented private developer and affiliated entities in an UPREIT contribution transaction involving 35 properties having a value of approximately $1.8 billion
• Represented the Receiver of the City of Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, in the monetization of the City’s parking system to provide funding for the City’s financial restructuring; the transaction involved a long-term ground lease of the parking facilities, private management with public ownership, and a $290 million bond financing, as well as annual cash flow to the City and structured long term payments to creditors
• Represented public entity owner of a high-rise office building in all lease and renewal negotiations, as well as general operating issues
• Represented European pension investment fund in the acquisition of over $300 million of U.S. real estate investment
• Represented private equity investor in a joint venture for the acquisition and redevelopment of historic hotel in South Beach area of Miami Beach
• Represented two affiliated entities in Section 1031 tax-deferred exchanges into tenancy-in-common interests in the replacement property, on a forward exchange and on a reverse exchange; credit enhancement was required for the first mortgage financing with mezzanine financing supplementing the equity
• Represented REIT in connection with a reverse Section 1031 tax-deferred exchange in which a $100 million replacement property was acquired in a parking arrangement and held while 8 relinquished properties were sold
• Represented two affiliated partnerships in the disposition to a REIT of adjacent multi-family properties operated as a single $150 million project with one partnership selling its property to the REIT and the other contributing its property in an UPREIT contribution transaction
• Represented redevelopment agency in providing assistance in the development of senior congregate care facility by a private party on a ground leasehold with another public agency owning the property and the redevelopment agency in “sandwich” position on the ground lease
• Represented construction/permanent lender in workout/restructuring of $100 million loan for the financing of mixed-use hotel, office, retail and condominium project
• Represented bank in restructuring construction loan for condominium project with bankrupt guarantors and general contractor

Professional Activities

• Los Angeles County Bar Association
• State Bar of California (Real Property and Business and Corporations Law Sections)
• International Council of Shopping Centers