Bilzin Sumberg Bilzin Sumberg's real estate group closed more than $1 billion in construction loans and other commercial financing deals in 2017 alone. Among the high-profile transactions were $236 million in construction, mortgage and mezzanine financing for Ugo Colombo's Brickell Flatiron condominium and the $80 million sale of the ground lease interest by Cousins Properties LP on the iconic Lincoln Place office and retail building in Miami Beach. James W. Shindell, who chairs the firm's real estate group, helped Florida East Coast Industries on financing for a number of transportation-oriented developments tied to its Brightline passenger rail line and industrial projects for its logistics business. He also counseled Turnberry Ocean Club on a $395 million mortgage loan and preferred equity investments. Shindell's relationship with luxury developer Colombo's CMC Group goes beyond the Brickell Flatiron development. He has guided the CMC Group on nearly all of its projects in the past 18 years and has handled many high-stakes acquisitions and dispositions for the developer. A Bilzin Sumberg team also represented Grupo Mexico Transportes as Florida counsel in the $2.1 billion acquisition of the 565-mile Florida East Coast Railway, a major landowner, last July. Another team from the firm represented Paramount Miami Worldcenter as the development secured $335 million in construction and mezzanine financing in March 2017. On the litigation front, the firm won a $3.8 million verdict on a counterclaim after nine years of litigation in a construction defect case pitting joint venture partners against a Miami Springs contractor over work done at a Miami Beach condo hotel. On the pro bono side, Bilzin Sumberg provided Legal Services of Greater Miami Inc. with temporary office space when the legal aid group was without power for an extended period after Hurricane Irma blew through last September.  

Broad and Cassel

Broad and Cassel's real estate practice group powered through a number of major real estate transactions to highlight their year in 2017. The firm represents publicly traded real estate investment trusts, several master developers and a number of luxury multifamily developers. The 40-attorney practice represented Starwood Capital Group in the $151 million purchase of Heathrow International Business Center, a collection of six Class A office buildings in the suburban Orlando community of Lake Mary. The off-market sale by a DRA Advisors LLC fund enabled Starwood Capital Group to obtain instant critical mass in the metropolitan area with the  second-highest job growth nationally. The 795,950-square-foot office park in the 370-acre mixed-use, master-planned development is adjacent to the Heathrow Country Club. The Wellington-based Bainbridge Cos., a leading owner, developer and manager of luxury multifamily apartment communities in the Eastern U.S., is pursing an aggressive growth plan, and Broad and Cassel has supported the company through representation on several large-scale transactions. One of the latest deals was Bainbridge's $102.5 million purchase of a 488-unit Delray Beach rental community known as Delray Verana. Plans called for extensive renovations of the property built in the 1990s. Also on behalf of Bainbridge, the law firm handled the $13.2 million purchase of 12 acres in Tampa's Westshore Marina District, which is viewed as a transformational project for the city's western waterfront. Broad and Cassel also represented Mill Creek Residential, a national company that develops, builds, acquires and operates apartment communities, in several Florida real estate transactions. Most notably in 2017, Mill Creek bought land for its 297-unit Modera Edgewater apartment building north of downtown Miami and obtained a $61.8 million construction loan with the firm's help.