Thomas E. Kass

Publications
“Avoiding Pitfalls in Attorney-Broker Relationships,” Real Estate Weekly, April 4, 2007
“Negotiating the Commitment, Don’t Wait for the Loan Documents”, The Cooperator, December, 1999
“Board Approval: Are Co-ops Being Too Selective?”, The Cooperator, December, 1997

Representative Transactions:
A closely held corporation purchasing 11 amusement parks in four states.

A substantial apparel firm leasing and subleasing 59,000 square feet of office space in midtown Manhattan.

Apple Bank for Savings and Emigrant Savings Bank in connection with hundreds of commercial mortgage loan transactions, including leasehold mortgages and construction financing of residential and commercial properties.

A 300-unit cooperative apartment corporation involved in numerous corporate governance issues, retail and garage leases, construction contracts, and underlying mortgage loan transactions over a 14-year period.

A private investor in connection with the purchase of two commercial mortgage loans (one encumbering the leasehold of a Manhattan office building; the other encumbering a fee interest in a shopping center) and the subsequent pledging thereof to another lender.

A family trust in connection with the sale of a Ground Lease and negotiation of a sublease of a bowling alley on Long Island.

A private lender involved with the refinancing and restructuring of the financial obligations of a significant tennis club in Forest Hills, NY.

Experience
Mr. Kass began his career in Manhattan in 1984, representing a variety of buyers and sellers of commercial real estate throughout the United States.  Over his career, he has handled a broad cross section of real estate transactions.   He spent four years exclusively representing commercial savings banks in connection with commercial mortgages on office and commercial buildings, shopping strips and malls, residential apartment buildings and co-operative apartment buildings.  In connection with such financings, he has also handled participation and loan sales agreements for commercial lenders.

During the late 1980s and early 1990s, Mr. Kass represented foreign investors purchasing United States real estate.  He was instrumental in developing the first-ever convertible mortgage, which converted a lender’s interest from debt to equity, for a Japanese insurance company in connection with a $100 million investment in a New York City office tower.  He also was an instrumental member of a legal team representing a Dutch investor’s $600 million purchase of an office building in New York and ground lease and master lease positions in two office buildings in Chicago.

More recently, Mr. Kass represented New York co-operative and condominium boards, handling a variety of corporate governance and real estate issues. In addition, he frequently represents landlords and tenants in connection with office and retail leasing and subleasing transactions. As part of his leasing practice, he often speaks at commercial leasing brokerage firms on current leasing topics.

As general counsel to a variety of businesses, including closely held manufacturing, apparel and technology firms, Mr. Kass has advised clients on corporate governance and commercial contract issues.  Often he has been called upon to handle sales and purchases of companies or their divisions through asset and stock sales and acquisitions.  Such transactions often require both corporate and real estate expertise.

Mr. Kass prides himself on his drafting expertise, often crafting complicated shareholder, operating, partnership, joint venture and licensing agreements for the firm’s broad array of clients.