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ProfessionalsMeredith J. Kane

Meredith J. Kane
Of Counsel

Tel: +1-212-373-3065
Fax: +1-212-492-0065
mjkane@paulweiss.com

Tel: +1-212-373-3065
mjkane@paulweiss.com
New York

1285 Avenue of the Americas
New York, NY 10019-6064
Fax: +1-212-492-0065

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Of Counsel and former Co-Chair of the firm’s Real Estate Department, and two-term member of the firm’s Management Committee, Meredith J. Kane regularly represents developers, equity investors, institutional and entrepreneurial owners and government agencies in all aspects of development, finance, acquisitions and sales, equity joint ventures, restructuring, leasing and securitization of real estate.

AWARDS AND RECOGNITIONS

Ms. Kane has received numerous honors and awards for her work. In 2019, Ms. Kane was recognized in New York Law Journal’s inaugural list of “New York Trailblazers” for her work in helping transform the New York City skyline. Ms. Kane was also recognized as a 2017 “Real Estate MVP” by Law360. Commercial Observer has twice cited Ms. Kane as part of its Power 100 list of “Power Attorneys,” the top real estate lawyers who are “the legal world’s most powerful, most connected and most exciting players,” and has profiled Ms. Kane individually as one of New York’s most influential real estate attorneys. Euromoney Legal Media Group named her Best in Real Estate at the 2012 inaugural Americas Women in Business Law Awards, and Grid Magazine named her one of the top 10 American women in real estate development. She was honored as the 2009 Woman of the Year by WX - New York Women Executives in Real Estate, and as one of the Top 50 Women in Real Estate and one of 25 Current Leaders in the Industry by Real Estate Weekly and The Association of Real Estate Women.

Ms. Kane is also cited by multiple legal directories as one of the leading real estate lawyers in the United States. In Chambers USA, she is described as “very highly regarded by market sources,” “incredibly knowledgeable,” a “shrewd negotiator” and a “problem solver.” Ms. Kane is also recognized in Who’s Who Legal USA, The Legal 500, The Best Lawyers in America and numerous other peer-review publications. She is a member of the American College of Real Estate Lawyers.

EXPERIENCE

Ms. Kane’s experience includes all aspects of the finance and development of complex public/private joint venture projects including:

  • the representation of the MTA in the development of several projects, including the 26-acre Hudson Yards on Manhattan’s far west side for over six million square feet of office space and 5,000 residential units; Atlantic Yards in Brooklyn for the development of the Barclays Center sports arena and up to 16 residential and commercial buildings; and a ground lease to Boston Properties of MTA’s former Madison Avenue headquarters site for new development;
  • the 2001 long-term lease acquisition of New York’s World Trade Center complex;
  • the public infrastructure development in connection with the 1.6 million square foot One Vanderbilt office tower, and JP Morgan Chase’s new 2.1 million square foot headquarters at 270 Park Avenue;
  • the representation of the Stuyvesant Town/Peter Cooper Village Tenants Association in the ownership and debt restructuring of the 11,000-unit residential complex;
  • the transaction between the City of New York and Cornell University and Technion–Israel Institute of Technology to develop a world-class Engineering and Applied Sciences graduate school in New York City;
  • the proposed development and financing of New York Wheel, a 630-foot high observation wheel intended to overlook New York Harbor and the New York skyline on land leased from the City of New York in St. George, Staten Island (deal terminated);
  • the representations of Time Warner, Northwell Health, SEIU Local 1199 Healthcare Workers East, City University of New York, ASCAP and Colgate-Palmolive in their corporate headquarters leasing programs;
  • the retail redevelopment and historic restoration of Grand Central Terminal;
  • the development and securitized financing of Brooklyn Renaissance Plaza and the Marriott at the Brooklyn Bridge, a 1.2 million square foot office and hotel complex in downtown Brooklyn;
  • the development and financing of Avalon Chrystie Place, a five-building, 720-unit housing, retail and community facility development in Manhattan’s Cooper Square area;
  • the development and financing of the 76-story Trump World Tower luxury condominium;
  • the development and financing of over five million square feet of major mixed-use retail and residential projects in Flushing, Queens, including Rockefeller Group Development Corporation’s Flushing Commons;
  • the development of multiple new facilities for City University of New York, including a new headquarters, new building for Silberman School of Social Work at Hunter College, and new academic facilities for CUNY senior colleges;
  • the acquisition, development and financing of multiple new facilities for Northwell Health System, including medical offices, hospital facilities, and administrative headquarters;
  • the acquisition and development of new facilities for Weill Cornell Medical College, including proposed student housing and ambulatory medical space;
  • the development and financing of major proposed new and expanded cultural venues, including the Park Avenue Armory, New York Public Library, Brooklyn Academy of Music, American Ballet Theatre, Poets House, and Little Shubert Theatre;
  • the redevelopment of nine historic theaters in the 42nd Street Development Project, and the sales of theater development rights for the major Broadway theater owners;
  • the development and financing of a new arena for the Miami Heat basketball team; and
  • the development and financing of numerous office, residential and mixed-use complexes throughout all boroughs of New York City and the New York region.

She has represented Avalon Bay Communities, The Lefrak Organization, Vornado Realty Trust, Rockefeller Group Development Corporation, Lendlease Americas Development, Muss Development Company, Jonathan Rose Companies, Taconic Realty Partners, the Shubert Organization, Carnival Corporation, The New School, Union Theological Seminary, Lighthouse International, Sunspire Health and the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers, as well as multiple foreign and domestic investors, in major real property acquisitions, sales, financings and developments.

Ms. Kane is a member of the Board of Governors of the Real Estate Board of New York. She served as a commissioner of the New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission from 1995 to 2004. She was a member of the World Trade Center Memorial Center Advisory Committee. She was a lead official from 1985-87 of the New York City Department of Housing Preservation and Development in charge of the development of 8,000 new housing units, and a City Planning official for the City of New Haven from 1977-79 in charge of mixed-use retail and commercial districts. She is a regular speaker at professional forums on real estate development and finance, including the American Bar Association, the American College of Real Estate Lawyers, the Urban Design Forum, Columbia Law School, the New York State Bar Association and the Practising Law Institute. She annually co-chairs a PLI seminar on “CMBS and the Real Estate Lawyer: Lender and Borrower Issues in the Capital Market.” She also annually writes the U.S. chapter of The Real Estate Law Review, an international legal reference publication covering developments in real estate law in 33 countries, as well as the U.S. chapter of Lexology’s Real Estate Navigator. Ms. Kane is a member of the Board of the Brooklyn Navy Yard Development Corporation, Avenue of the Americas Association (Chair, 1999-2007), WX-Women Executives in Real Estate, the New York Women’s Forum, the ULI-Urban Land Institute, the Urban Design Forum (Board of Directors, 2010-present), and the Association of the Bar of the City of New York (former Chair, Economic Development Subcommittee). She is the Chair of the Board of Trustees of The Olana Partnership, and serves on the boards of several other civic and not-for-profit organizations.

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