EXPERIENCE

Sal’s representations include:

• A joint venture between Simon Property Group and Brookfield Asset Management in the acquisition from J. C. Penney Company, Inc. in a chapter 11 case, and the financing, of fee and leasehold interests in over 600 stores and a dozen distribution centers across the United States
• iStar Inc. in the sale of its triple net lease portfolio of office, industrial and entertainment assets to The Carlyle Group and certain of its affiliates for approximately $3 billion
• The Collegiate Churches of New York, the oldest operating church in the United States, in connection with its investment in a major commercial real estate development project in New York City
• Tricon Residential in the formation of joint ventures to acquire single-family rental homes across the country (including a $1.5 billion venture with Pacific Life Insurance Company and a leading global investor and another with the Teacher Retirement System of Texas and a leading global investor), the recapitalization of a $1.3 billion portfolio of 23 multifamily properties, and a joint venture with two leading global investors to acquire multifamily properties across the country
• Lightstone Group in connection with the acquisition of 27 multifamily properties located in the vicinity of Detroit, Michigan, a bridge mortgage loan financing involving a portfolio of 36 multifamily properties, and a permanent mortgage loan financing involving a portfolio of 15 multifamily properties
• Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) in numerous transactions, including:
  • ground leases with Related Companies LP for the Hudson Yards project, the largest private development in U.S. history
  • the formerly planned development of a new AirTrain to connect LaGuardia Airport with nearby stations on a Long Island Rail Road line and the 7 line of the New York City Subway, as well as improvements to those stations and other public transit facilities
  • the replacement of large segments of the Park Avenue Viaduct in East Harlem that is used by approximately 220,000 customers on an average weekday
  • the sale of airspace over the Atlantic Yards to a joint venture between Greenland USA and Brookfield Properties (formerly Forest City) for the development of a 22-acre mixed-use development near Brooklyn's Barclays Center, and the construction of new railyards for Long Island Rail Road
  • MTA’s acquisition of interests in multiple private development sites in order to construct transit-oriented facilities
  • the redevelopment of Times Square Shuttle station in conjunction with a private redevelopment of the iconic Times Square building (the site of the New Year’s Eve ball drop)
• Columbia University in its acquisition of a 2.5-acre assemblage in West Harlem, its acquisition of a multifamily property in Morningside Heights, and a potential ground lease development in Washington Heights
• Healthpeak Properties (formerly HCP, Inc.), an S&P 500 healthcare REIT, in a number of transactions, including:
  • the sale of a portfolio of five independent living, assisted living and/or memory care facilities in Florida to Fortress Investment Group
  • the sale of a continuing care retirement community in Santa Rosa, California, and the provision of seller financing, to Life Care Services
  • $1.125 billion sale of 64 senior housing communities to affiliates of Blackstone Real Estate Advisors L.P.
  • formation of a joint venture for, and multiple financings of, a $1.2 billion portfolio of 14 continuing-care retirement communities and hundreds of related garden homes
  • formation of multiple joint ventures for, and financings and sales of, a portfolio of 49 senior housing communities
  • acquisition and financing of, and formation of a joint venture for, the $850 million U.S. portfolio of a Canadian senior housing company, consisting of 35 senior housing communities located across 8 states
• Colony Capital (formerly NorthStar Realty Finance Corp.) in its:
  • $4 billion acquisition of a Griffin-American-sponsored non-traded public REIT, which owned 289 healthcare facilities in 32 states and the United Kingdom
  • $1.125 billion acquisition of Trilogy Investors, through a joint venture with Griffin-American, involving the acquisition of 100 senior housing facilities and ancillary businesses
  • $840 million sale of 35 medical office buildings to Starwood Property Trust
  • $875 million acquisition of a portfolio of 35 independent living facilities in 12 states from Harvest Facility Holdings
• LendLease in the sale of its U.S. telecommunications towers and related development business
• Fontainebleau Miami JV, LLC, the owner of the iconic Fontainebleau Miami Beach Hotel, in its out-of-court restructuring of over $840 million in debt and other secured claims and in multiple subsequent refinancings of the hotel
• A foreign investor in its engagement of Fairmont Hotels and Resorts to manage The Plaza Hotel in New York City
• Las Vegas Sands, Corp. in negotiations with several of the world’s leading hotel companies for the management and licensing of a strip of hotels in Macau
• Oaktree Capital Management in:
  • the creation, as part of a consortium of investors, of International Market Centers, L.P., the largest network of premium home furnishings, gift and home decor showroom and exhibition space in the world
  • the acquisition of loans secured by, the formation of joint ventures to own, and the acquisition and financing of, a portfolio of 26 industrial properties containing more than 11 million rentable square feet of space
  • a secured loan to Ashford Hospitality Trust, Inc., a REIT with over 100 hotels
• Jonathan Rose Companies in its arrangements with non-profit cultural groups to develop a green mixed-use project in the Brooklyn Cultural District
• KLM Equities in the acquisition and leasing of 920 Broadway located in New York City’s Flatiron district

The Legal 500 has listed Sal as a “Next Generation” lawyer every year since 2017 and is recognized as a top practitioner by Chambers USA. Sal was included in Lawdragon's "500 Leading Global Real Estate Lawyers 2024" and has also previously been named a “Rising Star” by both the New York Law Journal and Law360. He is the co-author of a column in the New York Law Journal on commercial real estate.

Sal has served as pro bono counsel for a number of nonprofit organizations, including the Urban Justice Center, the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund, Settlement Housing Fund and Community Access. In 2018, Sal was awarded the Cornerstone Award by Lawyers Alliance for New York for his extraordinary contributions through pro bono legal service. He sits on the boards of directors of New Yorkers for Children (a nonprofit serving youth in New York City’s child welfare system with a focus on children and young adults in and aged out of foster care) and of VIP Community Services (a Bronx-based organization that provides a continuum of services to individuals struggling with substance abuse and behavioral health challenges) and has previously served on the board of directors of the New York Civil Liberties Union and The Bronx Museum of the Arts.