Richard S. Fries

Recent Representative Transactions Include:

• Representation of several financial institutions in the origination and syndication of numerous high-profile and newsworthy acquisition, construction, development, bridge and mezzanine loans to owners, developers and their joint venture investors secured by office buildings, condominium and rental apartment complexes, hotels, other real estate projects and new ground-up construction sites located throughout the New York metropolitan area and nationally.
• Representation of several financial institutions in connection with Covid-19 related short term forbearance agreements, loan modifications and debt restructures in each of the following asset classes – hotels and hospitality, retail (including malls), mixed use (retail and multi-family), construction projects and sports facilities.

Specifically, over the past 12 months:

• Representation of a financial institution, as the lead lender, in a construction loan to finance the development of a mixed use residential apartment complex and senior living housing facility located in Hudson Yards.
• Representation of a financial institution in connection with two separate syndicated construction loans to the developer of two large multi-family rental apartment complexes located in Pacific Park, Brooklyn, near Barclay’s Center.
• Representation of a financial institution, as lead lender, in a construction loan to finance the development of Brooklyn Point, a 68-story residential tower containing 485 condominium units, which is part of the 1.8 million square foot City Point mega project; City Point also includes 600,000 square feet of retail.
• Representation of a financial institution in connection with two loans to finance The Beekman, a Thompson Hotel, in Manhattan’s Fulton Nassau Historic District occupying a landmark Queen Anne building erected in 1881 and the development of an adjacent 51-story condominium tower.
• Representation of a syndicate of financial institutions in connection with a construction loan for the restoration and conversion of Eero Saarinen's majestic gull-wing shaped TWA Flight Center Terminal at JFK Airport into a 505 room luxury hotel.
• Representation of a financial institution in connection with a construction loan for the improvement of 765,000 square foot Steiner Studios, the largest film and television production facilities located outside of Hollywood, located within the Brooklyn Navy Yard, including the renovation of a historic building constructed for the Navy in the 1940s.
• Representation of a financial institution in connection with a construction loan for the redevelopment of historic Admiral’s Row in Brooklyn, a mixed use development project at the heart of the Brooklyn Navy Yard anchored by New York City’s first Wegman’s supermarket.
• Representation of a financial institution as co-lender on a loan secured by a portfolio of 35 industrial properties located in the southeastern and mid-Atlantic regions of the United States.
• Representation of a financial institution as lead lender for a construction loan for a multi-family development project located near the waterfront in Santa Monica, California.
• Representation of a syndicate of financial institutions in connection with a construction loan for the re-development of a project at 55 Water Street on the Brooklyn Bridge Park waterfront into a mixed-use office, retail, restaurant and event space.
• Representation of a financial institution in the workout of its mortgage loan to the owner of a regional shopping mall, which involved the restructuring of the indebtedness tied to the departure (and demise) of two anchor department store tenants with a discounted repayment option (on a sliding scale) based on performance and marketing hurdles.  
• Representation of a financial institution in the workout of one of the largest defaulted automobile loans in the New York area to a consortium of Jaguar, Land Rover, Maserati and Ford dealerships, each of which filed for bankruptcy protection; each dealership (together with 1,000 vehicles and several ground lease interests) was sold at three separate bankruptcy auctions.

Other Representative Transactions:

• Representation of a syndicate of European financial institutions in the recapitalization and restructuring of a multi-tranche US$1 billion real estate loan secured by a high-profile office building located in San Francisco. 
• Representation of a private equity investor in the recapitalization of more than US$2 billion of distressed multi-site development projects, mezzanine loans and joint venture interests located in Southern and Central California (each consisting of several thousand residential land development lots), as well as hotels and apartment complexes located nationwide, including repositioning a New York City residential apartment complex known as Riverhouse (one of the largest  “green” development residential projects in the country) and the restructure of partnership interests and real estate indebtedness in connection therewith. 
• Representation of several financial institutions in distressed real estate loan workouts, mortgage foreclosures, restructures and insolvency proceedings involving office buildings, apartment complexes, new construction sites, assisted living facilities, undeveloped land assemblages, shopping centers, oil and gas and fast food franchise locations, hotels and related hospitality assets located throughout the country. 
• Representation of a lender syndicate, as senior lender, in the foreclosure, workout and ultimate disposition of a multi-tiered, multi-lender loan secured by The Ritz Carlton Club and The Residences at Kapalua Bay, Maui, Hawaii, a development consisting of hundreds of condominium units and fractional time shares managed, operated and controlled by Ritz Carlton. 
• Representation of a financial institution in the workout, through a future transfer (secured by springing guaranties, a consent judgment of foreclosure and a consensual sealed bid auction) of title in lieu of foreclosure, of a first mortgage loan on the Verizon Building, a vacant 800,000 square foot property located in lower Manhattan now used as a major East Coast data center and technology building.
• Representation of a life insurance company, as the first lienholder, in a contested foreclosure action, repositioning of the underlying indebtedness and a loan sale through a consensual foreclosure process involving a major hotel located in New York City and the rights and interests of a ground lessor, several tranches of debt and equity, a hotel management company and numerous hotel suppliers.
• Representation of the purchaser and holder of a distressed real estate loan on commercial property located in Tribeca, New York including the acquisition of the loan, the commencement and prosecution of the mortgage foreclosure of the real estate and the workout of the defaulted loan through a deed in lieu of foreclosure delivered by the owner to an affiliate of the purchaser of the loan.
• Representation of a global financial institution in the sale, disposition and liquidation, over the past several years, of several portfolios of commercial real estate loans and hundreds of individual loans, each secured by real estate assets located throughout the country. 
• Representation of private equity firms in the acquisition of distressed real estate loans and the subsequent enforcement of remedies to facilitate the transfer of ownership of the loans into ownership of the underlying assets. 
• Representation of several global financial institutions in the origination and workout of numerous separate multi-jurisdictional commercial franchise finance loans secured by fast food (Taco Bell, Pizza Hut, KFC, Wendy’s, among others) restaurants, hospitality facilities and oil and gas (Exxon-Mobil, Chevron, Shell, Sunoco, Valero, among others) service stations and convenience stores located throughout the United States.

*Includes matters handled prior to joining Sidley.

• American College of Real Estate Lawyers
• American College of Mortgage Attorneys
• New York State Bar Association (Executive Committee, Real Property Law Section, Co-chair of its Finance Committee and Former Co-chair of its Workouts and Bankruptcy Committee; Member of Nominating Committee; Past Delegate to the House of Delegates)
• New York City Bar Association
• American Bar Association