Susan L. Saslow

Susan’s practice focuses on representing investors, owners, developers and lenders in complex real estate transactions. Her practice focuses on all aspects of real estate transactional matters, including commercial acquisitions and dispositions, joint ventures, real estate finance, construction, development and leasing, involving all types of assets.

Susan has extensive experience advising institutional clients, private investors and developers in sophisticated debt and equity financings, counseling both borrowers and lenders in complex transactions involving multistate, multiproperty portfolios; mezzanine financings; securitized loan originations; construction loans; and loan participations.

Susan is also active in the areas of ESG and real estate sustainability, including green loans, C-PACE loans and bonds.

• Represented a real estate firm in the origination of a $45.2 million construction loan consisting of mezzanine financing, secured by a property located in New York.
• Represented Chatham Lodging Trust in connection with the amendment of a $250 million credit facility from various participating lenders, including Barclays Bank PLC, and secured by a portfolio of hotels located across the country.
• Represented a lender and servicer focused on real estate sustainability with a $26.5 million C-PACE financing, secured by six voluntary special assessments levied against a property in Pennsylvania. The C-PACE loan was made for the retroactive financing of certain renovations and construction, with the goal of reducing energy consumption and installing renewable energy systems. The property was transformed into a mixed-use campus with multifamily housing, offices, retail and event space. The transaction included drafting and negotiating the C-PACE financing documents, review of the documents relating to the condominium regime instituted, certain leases at the property, title, survey and other due diligence matters, as well as negotiation of a Recognition Agreement with the existing mortgage lender.
• Represented a real estate investor in the origination of a $62 million construction loan, consisting of both mortgage and mezzanine financing secured by a property located in New York City for the purpose of constructing a new life sciences building.
• Represented an investment manager with a mortgage loan in the amount of $54.66 million, secured by a hotel located in Pennsylvania.
• Represented an investment manager with a $72.5 million mortgage loan and a pledge of equity interests to a subsidiary of a joint venture secured by a hotel located in Texas.

• Represented Savanna in the purchase of 521 Fifth Avenue, a 39-story office tower in Midtown Manhattan, one block from Grand Central Terminal.
• Represented Savanna in its $126 million purchase of a 12-story office building, with ground-floor retail, located in the NoMad neighborhood of Manhattan. Savanna plans to transform the property by undertaking strategic renovations and repositioning the ground-floor retail.
• Represented an investment manager with a mortgage loan in the amount of $60.5 million, secured a hotel located in Georgia.
• Represented a real estate development and investment firm with the origination of a $43 million mortgage loan to refinance a luxury apartment building in New York City.
• Represented a real estate private equity firm with the successful UCC foreclosure of its secured interest in 100% of the membership interests in the owner of hotel located in Ohio and the subsequent sale to a third party bidder at the UCC public auction.
• Represented an investment manager in the $14.75 million mezzanine loan financing of two hotels. The hotels were acquired by a joint venture with mortgage financing in the amount of $46.25 million provided by a lender.
• Represented a subsidiary of private equity firm with the successful UCC foreclosure of its secured interest in 100% of the membership interests in the indirect owner of a newly constructed condominium located in New York and the simultaneous assumption and negotiation of the existing outstanding $25 million mortgage loan held by a financial institution.
• Represented a real estate finance company with a $61 million, mortgage loan (with a pledge of membership interest), secured by a hotel located in Puerto Rico.
• Represented Savanna in the acquisition and financing of 95 Evergreen Avenue, a 170,000-square-foot warehouse building in Bushwick, Brooklyn that was originally constructed as the historic Schlitz Brewery and is currently being redeveloped for retail and office use.
• Represented a private equity firm with a $253 million acquisition (and related financings) of three apartment complexes in the Texas.
• Represented an investment manager in the making of a $60 million mezzanine construction loan with the department store re-development located in Minnesota. The $400 million redevelopment involves the restoration and conversion of the former department store to approximately 1.2 million net rentable square feet of office and retail space. In addition, the project was financed through federal and state historic tax credit investments in the aggregate amount of approximately $130 million.
• Represented Chatham Lodging Trust with a $28 million construction mortgage loan and a $12 million mezzanine loan to develop and construct a hotel located in California.
• Represented Savanna in connection with securing $45 million in financing for the commercial building located at 1825 Park Avenue in the Harlem neighborhood of New York City. The office and retail building is 12 stories with 135,000 square feet of space and is located in Harlem’s 125th Street corridor.
• Represented a real estate development and investment firm with the $71 million acquisition of real estate property located in New York and the $41.6 million predevelopment loan from a lender.
• Represented an affiliate of an investment manager on the origination of a $63 million acquisition loan secured by a hotel located in Maryland.
• Represented a real estate firm with a $81.4 million construction loan made by an administrative agent and lender. The loan proceeds will be utilized for the ground-up construction of a 13-story mixed-use office and retail building located in Illinois.
• Represented an alternative investment firm in the origination of a combined mortgage and mezzanine financing in the aggregate amount of $51 million for the refinancing and repositioning of a hotel located in Illinois.
• Represented a joint venture between two prominent real estate investment companies in the $100 million sale of a portfolio of multifamily buildings, all located on the Upper East Side of Manhattan. The representation also included the modification of the existing financing covering the portfolio to allow for the release of the properties and the partial assignment of the mortgage to buyer’s lender (as such existing financing covers other properties not subject to the sale and will remain in place following closing), and the modification of the joint venture between the partners.
• Represented a tenant in a lease of office space consisting of 19,800 square feet in New York City.

• Recognized as one of the Leading Ladies in Real Estate by Real Estate Weekly, 2021