Our real estate group has a leading practice focused on REIT and real estate M&A and strategic transactions. Our group specializes in mergers and acquisitions of REITs and other real estate, hospitality or gaming companies, high-stakes restructurings, recapitalizations and workouts, sale and financing of significant assets or portfolios, institutional investment transactions, strategic joint ventures, major development projects, structuring private equity real estate opportunity funds, and innovative capital markets transactions. We have represented: Silverstein Properties in the redevelopment of the World Trade Center since 9/11/01; Tishman Speyer and Lehman Brothers in their $22 billion acquisition of the Archstone apartment REIT; the Mills, a shopping mall REIT, in its $8 billion sale to Simon and Farallon; Ventas in its $2 billion acquisition of the Sunrise Senior Living REIT; the Innkeepers hotel REIT in its $1.5 billion sale to Apollo; American Financial Realty Trust in its $3.4 billion sale to Gramercy Capital; Public Storage in its successful $5 billion hostile acquisition of the Shurgard Self Storage REIT; Kimco in its strategic alliance with Valad Property Group of Australia; Public Storage in its joint venture with New York Common with respect to Shurgard Europe; Morgan Stanley and Onex in their $1.25 billion acquisition of the Town & Country apartment REIT; Kimco in its $4 billion acquisition of the Pan Pacific shopping center REIT; the Reckson office REIT in its $6.2 billion sale to SL Green; Four Seasons Hotels in connection with a project in downtown Manhattan; Morgans Hotel Group in its $1.5 billion acquisition and financing of the Hard Rock Hotel/Las Vegas and in a joint venture with Boyd Gaming for a major new development in Las Vegas; Taubman in its successful defense against an unsolicited offer; Lend Lease in the sale of its U.S. real estate businesses; Hometown in its $2.2 billion acquisition of the Chateau manufactured home REIT; Tishman Speyer in its acquisition and recapitalization of the Chrysler Building and other significant properties; Kmart in its disposition of real estate assets; Apollo in the structuring and formation of its private equity real estate opportunity funds; and other real estate M&A transactions involving Security Capital, National Golf Properties, AvalonBay, Apollo and others. Our real estate group is routinely in the very top ranks of real estate advisors by deal value and other measures.