Federman Steifman LLP announced today that real estate and structured finance lawyer John Nastasi has joined the firm as Partner. Mr. Nastasi will be resident in the firm's New York office.
Mr. Nastasi concentrates his legal practice in commercial real estate, structured finance and workouts. Mr. Nastasi has a broad range of real estate transactional experience including acquisitions and dispositions of retail, multi-family residential, office and industrial properties (which include transactions structured as transfers of membership or partnership interests, joint ventures, contributions of preferred equity, build to suit leases, sale-leasebacks, tenant-in-common ownership interests and 1031 tax deferred exchanges).
Mr. Nastasi represents owners, operators, developers, investors, borrowers and lenders in all manner of commercial real estate transactions, including sales, acquisitions, joint ventures, mortgage and mezzanine financing, preferred equity, ground leases, hotel management agreements and leasing. Mr. Nastasi also has extensive experience in structuring, negotiating and executing all manner of real estate workout solutions, including foreclosures, deeds-in-lieu, discounted payoffs and short sales, loan modifications and restructuring, asset-level bankruptcies, partnership disputes, lender liability suits, and asset rehabilitation and disposition.
"Federman Steifman LLP provides clients with legal advice and services from high-caliber commercial real estate attorneys with the training and experience of large law firm lawyers and the practical business savvy of in-house counsel," said John Nastasi. "I have transacted with Michael Federman on prior real estate deals and know well that the firm will be a comfortable home for my clients. My singular focus is to build the best real estate practice possible and I can think of no better place than Federman Steifman LLP to achieve that goal."
"John will be a tremendous resource for our junior lawyers and will lead complex deals with our senior lawyers," said Peter J. Mannarino, a managing partner of the firm. "Our clients will be well served by his practical approach and creative solutions to difficult problems. We are excited about adding John's talents to our practice. He values efficiency and providing extraordinary client service above all else."
Prior to joining Federman Steifman LLP, Mr. Nastasi founded Nastasi Law Group, P.C., a boutique real estate law firm in New York City and served as in-house counsel for the real estate group of the Lehman Brothers estate, where he helped restructure the estate's massive portfolio of real estate debt and equity investments. Before Lehman Brothers, Mr. Nastasi was an associate in the real estate group at Fried Frank, where he worked on the $4 billion development of the Atlantic Yards project in Brooklyn by Forest City Ratner, the purchase of the MetLife building by Tishman Speyer for $1.72 billion–the world's largest single-asset real estate acquisition at the time– and the purchase, financing and entitlement of 610 Lexington for RFR Realty, in addition to closing over 2.5 billion dollars in other commercial real estate transactions while at Fried Frank.
Mr. Nastasi is a graduate of Brown University and New York University School of Law.
About Federman Steifman LLP
Federman Steifman LLP is a law firm specializing in complex and sophisticated real estate, structured finance and corporate transactions. Federman Steifman LLP's attorneys represent major international, national, regional and local underwriters, investment banks, private equity firms, hedge funds, asset managers, governmental and quasi-governmental agencies, Fortune 500 companies, credit enhancers, pension funds, insurance companies, private, public and institutional real estate owners and developers, contractors, tax credit and other equity syndicators and investors, banks, non-bank credit companies, mortgage bankers, savings and loan associations, mezzanine lenders, preferred equity investors, utility companies, cooperative corporations, condominium associations, telecommunications companies, family limited partnerships, trusts and estates, high net worth individuals, executives and state and local governments.
