Stephan L. Cutler

Stephan’s real estate practice encompasses a wide range of real estate activities, including acquisitions, dispositions, leasing, financing, development, construction and restructuring for a wide variety of clients, including REITs, private equity funds, retailers, medical, dental and other professional service providers, gaming companies, universities, and non-profit organizations. Stephan is adept in a broad range of property types such as retail, office, industrial, data center, multi-family and mixed-use, and ownership structures including fee simple, ground lease, air space, condominium, planned community and cooperative. From 2019 through 2023, Stephan also served as the Co-Chair of the Real Estate & Finance Department.

Stephan’s recent significant matters include:

• Representation of a global quantitative trading firm in connection with a 10-year sublease of a full floor (73,735 square feet) at 30 Hudson Yards in New York from an affiliate of Warner Brothers Discovery followed by a 5-year direct lease (with extension options) of the same premises from an affiliate of The Related Companies, LP.
• Representation of the purchaser of a 68-unit apartment complex in Chicago, IL, including the assumption of an existing first mortgage loan encumbering the property.
• Representation of the purchaser of 100% of the membership interests in the owner of a 64-unit loft apartment complex (with ancillary first-floor commercial space) in Dayton, OH, from an affiliate of Blackstone REIT.
• Representation of the owner of Hotel West & Main Conshohocken with respect to the negotiation of a Hotel Management Agreement with Concord Hospitality Enterprises Company, LLC.
• Representation of the purchasers of 74% of the membership interests in the owner of a 24-story, historically certified center city apartment building in Philadelphia, PA, with a notional value of more than $106 million.
• Representation of a leading national art supply chain in connection with new store leases in Florida, Arizona, Missouri and New York as well as its lease to an auto collision repair company of excess industrial space in Nevada.
• Representation of the seller of 10.3 acres of land and a 121,000-square-foot retail building occupied by Wal-Mart located in Wisconsin.
• Representation of the purchasers of membership interests in a collection of entities that owned the owners of a ~600-unit high-rise apartment complex and the financing related to such purchase. The transaction included both the initiation of a reverse 1031 exchange by one of the purchasers and the close-out of a 1031 exchange by one of the other purchasers.
• Representation of two affiliated purchasers of 326+ acres of prime developable land in the Orlando, FL metropolitan area in connection with the negotiation of the purchase and sale agreements between the purchasers and sellers as well as the negotiation of an agreement to sell 100% of the membership interests in such purchasers to a global leader in real estate investing and logistics.

Co-author, “Somewhere Over the Rainbow: A Stormy Commercial Real Estate Forecast,” July 19, 2023

Author, “Calif. Commercial Lease Hardship Bill May Be Unconstitutional,” Law360, June 12, 2020

Presenter, “The Influencer: A Zoom Networking Series,” The Daly Group, April 29, 2020

Presenter, “What You Need to Know and Do Before Construction Resumes on May 1,” April 29, 2020

Author, “What Should Business Owners Do if they Receive a Notice of Unavoidable Delay (AKA Force Majeure Notice)?” March 19, 2020

Author, “Will Business Owners Be Able To Recover COVID-19 Related Losses Under Their Business Interruption Insurance?” March 17, 2020

Author, “Coronavirus/COVID-19: Issues for Commercial Real Estate Owners and Operators to Consider,” March 13, 2020

Author, “Lease Extension Options, Baseball Arbitration and Forfeiting the Ball Game,” published on LinkedIn, February 21, 2017

Author, “Some Things Can and Should Go Without Saying,” published on LinkedIn, February 2, 2017

Speaker, “Advanced REA Issues and Other Short Stories and Tall Tales,” ICSC U.S. Law Conference in Orlando, Florida, October 26, 2012

Author, “Facility Owners, Operators Rev Up to Comply With Motor Vehicle Idling Act,” The Legal Intelligencer, February 4, 2009

Author, “Act 52 Amends the Pennsylvania Mechanics’ Lien Law of 1963,” September 2006

• Representation of the purchaser of a newly constructed 320-unit midrise apartment complex in Palm Bay, FL in connection with the negotiation of the purchase and sale agreement between the purchaser and the seller as well as the negotiation of an agreement to sell 100% of the membership interests in the purchaser to a NYC based real estate investment firm.
• Representation of the owner of a 700,000-square-foot office/data center that is leased entirely to a Fortune 50 U.S. bank and serves as one of three global command centers in connection with (a) the settlement of a lease renewal dispute with the sole tenant of the property, and (b) the 1031 exchange of the property to a foreign REIT at a value of ~$239 million.
• Representation of a joint venture in the: (a) purchase and leaseback of three properties in two states aggregating ~100 acres and 625,000-square-feet of manufacturing space from a subsidiary of a Fortune 100 company; and (b) post-purchase refinance of the properties. The properties were valued at ~$46 million, and they served as replacement property for a 1031 exchange.
• Representation of the purchaser of 100% of the membership interests in the owner of a 199,408-square-foot office building that is entirely leased to a Fortune 50 company pursuant to a long-term triple net lease. The purchase involved the assumption, paydown and readvance of the senior and subordinate debt encumbering the property and the property served as replacement property for a 1031 exchange.
• Representation of a joint venture in the: (a) purchase of a newly constructed 68-unit multifamily project in Memphis, TN that served as replacement property for a 1031 exchange; and (b) post-purchase refinance of the property.
• Representation of a global quantitative trading firm in connection with its purchase of a former television studio from an affiliate of NBCUniversal Media.