Steven A. Pepper

Steve’s real estate and lending practices are national in scope. Highlights of his practice include:

• The acquisition and disposition of over $2 billion of multifamily properties throughout the United States.
• The representation of local, regional, and national lenders as lead counsel in over $2 billion of real estate secured loans, including construction and term loans for multifamily, industrial, retail, and office properties nationally and in the Southeast U.S.
• Serving as local and regional counsel, primarily in Georgia and Florida, in connection with the real estate aspects of significant corporate financing transactions.
• Representing a prestigious Atlanta-based university in connection with various real estate activities, including the acquisition of a well-known office park, the sale and ground lease development transactions within that office park to a professional sports franchise and several national multifamily developers, and the sale of a separate campus to a luxury senior living developer.
• Numerous transactions relating to the acquisition and financing of senior living facilities, including independent living, assisted living, and skilled nursing facilities.
• Representing large South Carolina and Florida-based apartment management company in connection with management and receivership following Fannie Mae foreclosures. This included various work related to 12 or more properties in Georgia, Florida, North Carolina and Alabama in areas such as dealing with the former owners in connection with the misappropriation of rents, security deposits, laundry income and other revenue, negotiating with local governments over water and other unpaid utility charges, and general property management activities.

• Representing local, regional, and national banks in construction loans for multi-family, condominium, retail, office/warehouse, and office projects.
• Representing of local, regional, and national banks in corporate, commercial, and asset-based loans.
• Representing an institutional owner in the acquisition and disposition of “power center” retail developments, multi-family projects, office/warehouse projects and office developments.
• Representing a Savannah, Georgia-based private college in connection with $130 million senior-secured credit facility secured by, among other collateral, 50 or more separate parcels of real estate.
• Representing a large Atlanta-based skilled cared nursing home owner and operator in connection with $40 million senior secured credit facility, $40 million senior real estate secured credit facility, and Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD)-sponsored credit facilities.
• Representing a California-based healthcare real estate investment trust (REIT) in connection with $45 million senior secured real estate facility for financing of medical office buildings throughout the United States.
• Representing seller of 12-property Atlanta multifamily portfolio containing 1,100 plus apartment units to Yakima, Washington-based multifamily company, including coordination of equity investment in purchaser by seller and mezzanine loan to seller.
• Representing national bank in workouts and restructuring of numerous non-performing real estate loans, including the workout of defaulted loans to several single-family home developer affecting more than 1,000 homes and developed lots.
• Represented developer/owner of mixed-use urban redevelopment project of over 80 acres in obtaining approximately $80 Million of NMTC- subsidized financing for multiple phases of the development, including approximately 900,000 square feet of office space. The transactions involved 11 different CDE lenders and acquisitions of participations in existing leverage loans to 11 different NMTC investment funds.
• Represented national bank and non-bank lenders in due diligence aspects of loan acquisition transactions regarding more than 300 real estate and asset based loans.
• Representing several Georgia-based apartment owners and manager in connection with the acquisition, disposition, and financing of more than 30,000 apartment units located in Georgia, Florida, Alabama, South Carolina, North Carolina, Virginia, Maryland, Tennessee, Texas, Oklahoma, and Colorado. These units were mostly class B or C apartments that were renovated after purchase, thereby creating value for the ownership group. The financing included traditional bank acquisition and renovation financing, and mini-perm refinancing in the commercial mortgage backed securities (CMBS), Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae agency loans and insurance companies. Though many of the transactions were single development deals, there were several portfolio acquisitions and dispositions.