James B. Aronoff

Practices

• Real Estate
• Corporate Transactions & Securities

Professional Experience

Jim is a partner in the firm's Real Estate group who chairs the firm's Real Estate Capital Markets practice and serves as the Partner-in-Charge of the firm's Cleveland office. He is regularly called upon to represent and advise real estate investment trusts (REIT's) and real estate equity funds both transactionally, and in evaluating internal structures to maximize shareholder and investor value. He also focuses his practice on organizing joint ventures, partnerships, limited liability companies and other pass-through entities; commercial real estate financing, including representation of REMIC's and others in securitized offerings; leasing (both retail and commercial); shopping center development and construction; as well as significant acquisitions and divestitures of resort and other lodging properties.

Education

• Case Western Reserve University School of Law, J.D., 1984, Case Western Reserve Law Review, Editor-In-Chief, 1983-1984; Order of the Coif
• Bowdoin College, A.B., 1981, cum laude

• Representation of and counsel to several NYSE, NASDAQ and ASE-listed REITS, with particular focus in the retail and hospitality sectors.
• Representation of a NYSE-listed REIT in a $350,000,000 mortgage financing involving shopping center properties in Puerto Rico and the continental United States.
• Representation of a NYSE-listed lodging REIT in the restructuring of its $400,000,000 hotel lease portfolio.
• Representation of several private real estate equity funds through formation and in direct project investments of over $350,000,000.
• Representation of both purchasers and sellers of over $30 billion of whole loan and servicing rights portfolios.
• Representation of an AMEX-listed lodging REIT in the acquisition of a 10 hotel portfolio located in several Southwestern states.
• Representation of a major foreign insurance company in a $240,000,000 sale involving 43 retail and office properties located in 14 states.
• Representation of a NYSE-listed REIT in a $300,000,000 acquisition of 9 regional mall properties located in 5 states.
• Counsel to a private developer in a $1,200,000,000 sale of 21 regional mall properties to a NYSE-listed REIT.
• Representation of a NYSE-listed REIT in the $350 million acquisition of a portfolio of 36 department stores located in California, Nevada, Arizona and Texas, with lease or sublease back to the department store, plus related acquisition and lease back of additional properties in California and Utah.
• Lead transaction counsel for the leveraged lease sale/leaseback financing of 13 “Superstores” of a national retailer located in 9 states.
• Lead counsel to a Big 3 auto manufacturer in connection with the leveraged lease sale/leaseback of both a major assembly operation as well as an environmentally sensitive truck painting facility.
• Counsel to national retailer for leveraged lease sale/leaseback of 8 newly constructed retail properties located in 5 states.  Structure involved the severance of estates for years and remainder interests which enhanced the overall return to the retailer.
• Lead counsel in the leveraged lease financing of a major steel processing center in Northwestern Ohio.
• Counsel to national grocery chain for the sale/leaseback and secured lease bond financing of 36 supermarket and grocery distribution warehouse properties.

• "When Are Real Estate Interests Securities?" · The Practical Real Estate Lawyer
• "Securities Law Liabilities in Real Property Transactions", prepared for American Bar Association Annual Meeting
• "Ohio Landlord-Tenant Law", prepared for Cleveland Bar Association Practice and Procedure Clinic
• "Reasonable Wear and Tear: Collecting Damages", Prepared for Ohio State Bar Association Annual Meeting
• "What's In a Name?: The Business Judgment Rule After Zapata Corp. v. Maldonado", 34 Case Western Reserve Law Review 340

• Client Teams: Clarifying Team Roles and Leadership Responsibilities, The Hildebrandt Institute, 8/20/09
• Client Teams: Clarifying Team Roles, The Hildebrandt Institute, 9/16/08
• Real Estate M&A, Private Equity and REIT Privatization, Information Management Network, 9/19/07

• BTI Client Service All-Star (2006)
• Listed as both a leading real estate lawyer and real estate finance lawyer in Chambers USA, America's Leading Lawyers for Business (2005-2011) and in The Best Lawyers in America (2009-2012)
• President's Award, Cleveland Bar Association (2004)
• Selected for inclusion in Super Lawyers by Ohio Super Lawyer magazine (2007-2012)