Page 12 - 2021 Spotlight NJ's Top Law Firms

The Brach Eichler real estate team
OUR CLIENTS
Our real estate clients include some of the largest, most well-respected owners of investment properties in the region. We serve professional real estate investors, operators and developers as well as real estate lenders in the purchase,
sale, leasing and financing of land, office buildings, malls, multifamily complexes, retail centers and all kinds of industrial properties. While we handle all types of matters, we are especially well known for our expertise in apartment building development, acquisition, sales and financing, closing transactions throughout the eastern half of the U.S.
OUR ADVANTAGE
Brach Eichler has one of the deepest real estate benches in New Jersey, with 16 lawyers and 7 paralegals. We are a full- service, one-stop shop and our firm is consistently ranked in Chambers USA as a top-tier firm in New Jersey real estate. Our clients tell us that they value our depth of experience and our creative, practical approach to getting deals done quickly. In every transaction, the objectives of our clients become our own. Our tax department is particularly skilled in all aspects of real estate taxation, including tax appeals; 1031 exchanges; and finding solutions to minimize the impact
of all taxes. Rounding out our team are our environmental and land use attorneys who advise on challenging land use, natural resource and site remediation concerns.
ON THE HORIZON
So many categories of real estate have suffered as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. As a result, investors are flocking to apartments and industrial properties.
We continue to dominate regional real estate transactions while simultaneously expanding nationally, most notably in the eastern U.S. We are working on deals in New Jersey,
101 Eisenhower Parkway Roseland, NJ 07068
AT A GLANCE
YEAR FOUNDED: 1967
NUMBER OF ATTORNEYS: 86
NUMBER OF REAL ESTATE ATTORNEYS: 16
AREAS OF EXPERTISE IN REAL ESTATE: Purchase, sale, leasing, financing and taxation of multifamily, office, retail and industrial properties, including 1031 exchanges and environmental and land use matters. We also handle tax appeals of commercial and residential properties.
including the sale of a $77 million portfolio of properties
in Essex County. We are seeing increased volume in states including Michigan, Ohio, Kentucky, Tennessee, Maryland, Virginia and Florida, as our clients are in search of higher yields outside of the New York, New Jersey and Pennsylvania region.
Our most sophisticated real estate players utilize Section 1031 of the IRS code — tax-deferred exchanges — when selling and purchasing properties. And with regard to financing, many of our larger transactions and portfolios utilize agency loans from Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. Local financial institutions are still providing funding for more typical transactions.
TRANSACTION SPOTLIGHT
Last year, despite the challenges of the pandemic, our real estate team handled the sale or purchase of over 12,000 apartment units worth over $1 billion. We also handled financings, representing lenders and borrowers, totaling approximately $2 billion. Among our most significant deals for private investors are:
• The sale of over 10,000 apartments in the Washington, DC corridor;
• An acquisition of a portfolio of properties in Philadelphia totaling $75 million;
• An acquisition of a portfolio of apartments in Hackensack;
• The sale of a significant skyscraper in Chicago; and
• Acquisitions in Tennessee, Virginia and the Carolinas totaling over $200 million.
Brach Eichler is one of few law firms that can successfully handle very large transactions, as well as more typical deals, quickly and effectively. We expect to close over $1 billion in transactions by June 30, 2021.
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