Evelyn D. Giaccio is a Member of the firm’s Real Estate Department.

EXPERIENCE

Evelyn provides legal advice to owners, developers, lenders/borrowers, buyers/sellers, landlords/tenants, sponsors/investors and other clients on a variety of complex commercial real estate debt and equity transactions. Her work includes multifamily, office, retail, industrial, parking, hospitality and specialized properties, with a primary focus on mortgage and other financings, acquisitions and dispositions, leases, development, construction, joint ventures, private equity, and property management and operations.

Prior to joining Cole Schotz, Evelyn was a Managing Director and the General Counsel of a national real estate and energy finance provider and ESG infrastructure investor.

REPRESENTATIVE MATTERS

Representative matters include:

• Negotiating ground, net and gross leases in NYC and nationwide for office, retail, industrial and entertainment space of all sizes, including the ongoing representation of several landlords on office leases in excess of 75,000 square feet and the representation of a developer in the amendment and restatement of a ground lease and the conversion of the buildings thereon to residential use.
• Advising lenders and borrowers on permanent and construction mortgage originations for single properties and portfolios (including several greater than $150 million), C-PACE loans (including the largest [$256 million] to date), private placements, bond and structured financings, synthetic leases, governmental fundings, secondary purchases and sales, refinancings, co-lender and intercreditor arrangements, servicing, workouts and foreclosures.
• Drafting and negotiating documentation for joint ventures and purchases and sales of membership interests in real estate entities and fee and leasehold interests in land, multifamily, office, industrial, hotel and shopping center properties nationwide, including counseling a major global financial institution on the $315 million sale of an office building and the $350 million sale of a hotel.
• In her role as in-house real estate counsel of a major investment bank, leading strategic legal initiatives for the acquisition, financing, construction, leasing, regulatory, compliance, risk management, zoning, permitting, technology, insurance, labor, union, environmental and infrastructure aspects of large-scale development, repositioning and capital improvement projects, including the $2 billion synthetic lease financing and ground-up construction of a 2 million-square-foot build-to-suit mixed-use waterfront development.
• Representation of sponsors on fund formation transactions and a life insurance company general account and pension trust as limited partners in private equity investments, including domestic and offshore direct investments, secondary fund purchases, and co-investments.

NETWORKS & AFFILIATIONS

Evelyn has been a frequent speaker at Practicing Law Institute and real estate industry organizations. She is active as an alumna at Barnard College and NYU, serving on reunion, fundraising and other functions and events.

THOUGHT LEADERSHIP

Evelyn has published the following articles: “Synthetic Lease Transactions and ‘Off-Balance Sheet’ Financing,” included in Negotiating and Drafting Office Leases, Law Journal Seminars Press; and Moore and Giaccio, “International Project Finance,” 11 N.C.J. Int’l. & Com. Reg. 597.