Jimmy is chairperson of the firm's Real Estate Section and a member of the firm's Executive Committee. Jimmy has been a commercial real estate attorney in Atlanta since 1971, with experience in transactions and issues as diverse as tax-free exchanges, foreign investments in the United States, conveyances of air rights, stock sales and acquisitions of real estate companies, ground leases, retail leases, real estate asset based financing, joint ventures for the development and ownership of real estate assets, purchases and sales of raw land and income producing properties, partnership dispute resolution, management agreements for real estate assets, workouts and problem loan restructurings and foreclosures.

Representative Experience
Counsel to an investment fund in connection with the acquisition of single tenant facilities in suburban Seattle, Washington; Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey; and suburban Detroit, Michigan, and the acquisition of office buildings in suburban Chicago, Illinois; suburban Cincinnati; and Indianapolis

Counsel to a private investor in the acquisition, limited recourse financing, operation and disposition of two high rise midtown Atlanta office buildings totaling 480,750 square feet

Counsel to a real estate investment trust in its acquisition of the development arm of a shopping center development and management company

Counsel to a publicly traded utility company in the restructuring of leasehold financing on its downtown Atlanta high rise headquarters

Counsel to German investors in the acquisition and financing of 11 buildings containing 528,776 square feet in suburban Atlanta, including effecting management and operational controls for future operations

Counsel to a German investor in the joint venturing, acquisition financing, management and leasing operations of office buildings in suburban Atlanta containing 324,741 square feet

Counsel to a German investor in its acquisition of mortgage financing secured by Lake Calhoun Executive Center in Minneapolis, Minnesota, and subsequent conversion to equity participation, including ongoing management and leasing functions

Counsel to an investment group in joint venturing the acquisition of two (2) office buildings in The Alhambra, a Coral Gables, Florida development, totaling approximately 319,000 square feet and in the consummation of securitized purchase money financing, such representation including the structuring of ownership and investment entities and institution of management and leasing functions

Counsel to a real estate investment affiliate of a publicly traded company in the acquisition and non-recourse financing of three office buildings in Atlanta, totaling 885,889 square feet of rentable space, and the acquisition, interim unsecured financing and subsequent long term, non-recourse financing of a Chicago office building of 915,000 rentable square feet

Counsel to private investors in the development, ownership, operation, leasing and ultimate sale of a suburban Atlanta office park

Counsel to a German investment bank in various real estate investments in the U.S., including acquisition of a build-to-suit warehouse property in Atlanta; acquisitions of office buildings in suburban San Francisco, Atlanta and downtown Washington, D.C., such representation including the structuring and formation of U.S. investment vehicles for the acquisitions; the formation of two joint ventures with a Texas developer for the development, leasing, financing and sale of a 468-unit apartment project in Broward County, Florida, and a 448-unit apartment project in Dallas, Texas, including the securitized refinancing of the Dallas, Texas project; and the consummation of an acquisition and development loan secured by a retail/office project in Dade County, Florida

Counsel to a German real estate company in the acquisition and non-recourse financing of three Atlanta office buildings totaling 160,000 rentable square feet, including the structuring of U.S. ownership entities and management and leasing operations; the acquisition, limited recourse financing and ultimate sale of three (3) office buildings in Boston; and the joint venturing of the acquisition and rehabilitation of two Atlanta office buildings

Counsel to a real estate investment trust borrower in the consummation of fourteen (14) limited recourse financings in Atlanta, each secured by a shopping center or an office building, and limited recourse financings secured by office buildings in San Francisco; Alexandria, Virginia; Birmingham, Alabama; suburban Dallas and Charlotte, North Carolina, and in construction financing for an Atlanta office building of 565,000 square feet, and in construction financing for a Murfreesboro, Tennessee shopping center of 800,000 square feet

Counsel to a real estate investment trust in the separate sales of three (3) shopping centers, totaling approximately 880,000 square feet, two in metropolitan Atlanta and one in San Diego; the sale of two (2) Alexandria, Virginia office buildings containing 249,000 square feet; the sale of two (2) San Francisco office buildings containing 1,240,000 square feet; the sale of two (2) Atlanta office buildings containing 770,000 square feet; and the  sale of an Austin, Texas office building containing 529,000 square feet

Counsel to borrowers in separate limited recourse securitized financings secured by a 55-story Atlanta office building, by an Atlanta office  building of 996,900 square feet, and by a showroom facility of 427,400 square feet

Counsel to purchaser of a suburban Atlanta office building of 237,000 square feet with 12 developable acres and in its subsequent closing of securitized financing and its subsequent joint venture of the project

Counsel to the borrower of two  (2) separate limited recourse mortgage loans, one secured by office buildings containing 981,000 square feet in suburban Chicago, Houston and Pasadena, California and one secured by two (2) 12-story Washington, D.C. office buildings containing 493,000 square feet

Counsel to the borrower in the limited recourse permanent and mezzanine financing of a suburban Atlanta office building and the permanent financing of two (2) suburban Charlotte, North Carolina office buildings

Counsel to the purchasers of an outlet shopping center in Lowndes County, Georgia and an apartment project in Cobb County, Georgia, including limited recourse financing for each acquisition

Counsel to a forest products company in its acquisition of timber land in Ashley County, Arkansas

Counsel to the purchaser of partnership interests to effect the acquisition of a 1,250,000 square foot office building in Atlanta

Counsel to various developers in land acquisition, construction financing, development, lease-up and operation of shopping centers in Jacksonville, Florida; Charleston, South Carolina; Greenville, North Carolina; suburban Atlanta; St. Mary’s, Georgia; and Whiteville, North Carolina

Counsel to the lessor in ground leases to California Pizza Kitchen, Pizza Hut, Haverty's, East Side Mario's and Taco Bell

Counsel to various shopping center developers in the negotiation of retail leases with various anchor tenants, including American Multi-Cinema, Costco, K-Mart, Wal-Mart, Service Merchandise, Toys 'R Us, Kroger, Publix, CVS and Eckerds

Presentations and Speaking Engagements
Speaker on real estate and real estate finance issues at various seminars sponsored by the Institute of Continuing Legal Education in Georgia

Guest Lecturer, University of Virginia Law School,

Speaker on real estate industry trends at 1998 State Bar of Georgia Annual Meeting (June, 1998)

Speaker on retail leasing issues at three seminars presented by International Council of Shopping Centers since 1999