InsideTrack

Top Dealmakers of the Year

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

RESIDENTIAL REAL ESTATE

The Top Dealmaker is Avery Klann

The Apartment Realty Advisors broker understood the importance of time when a troubled Miami condo converter recruited him to sell.  Nearly 45 days later, the $37 million purchase closed at a time when deals were taking at least 60 days to close.

RETAIL REAL ESTATE
The Top Dealmakers in retail are: Casey Rosen and Dennis Carson

The CBRE brokers worked together to broker the sale of a shopping center called Jefferson Commons in Newport News, Virginia. The $78 million sale was ranked ninth-largest nationwide among sales of strip shopping centers last year.

INDUSTRIAL REAL ESTATE
The Top Dealmakers are: Steve Medwin and Harry Wardell

Representing the potential buyer of a $24 million warehouse in the Flagler Station business park in unincorporated Miami-Dade County, Steve Medwin had to outbid several aggressive institutional clients to land the building. Medwin, senior vice president of Lincoln Property Co. of Florida in Miami, brokered the March acquisition of the 248,800-square-foot warehouse. He worked on the deal with Harry Wardell, the firm’s senior vice president.

REAL ESTATE –LAND
The Top Dealmakers are: Brad Capas and Rosendo Caveiro

Almost as soon as their client signed a contract to sell a former mobile-home park to an apartment developer, Brad Capas and Rosendo Caveiro watched capital markets sour on funding for multifamily developments.

DISTRESSED REAL ESTATE
The Top Dealmaker is: Andrew Hellinger

Lawyer-businessman Andy Hellinger completed the largest land deals of his life in 2008, selling heavily financed Miami area real estate previously owned by high-profile Leviev Boymelgreen Developers.

 

OFFICE REAL ESTATE
The Top Dealmakers are: Kevin Cowan, Florentino Gonzalez and Roland Gallor

The lawyers handled a $485 million acquisition of 14 office buildings. They negotiated purchase contracts with 14 different sellers, which directly or indirectly were all owned by parent companies publicly traded in the United States but in liquidation in Australia.

 

OFFICE LEASING
The Top Dealmaker is: Douglas Campbell

When Shook Hardy & Bacon renewed its office lease at the Miami Center, it saved millions of dollars in rent and helped preserve the value of the building for its owner.

 

REAL ESTATE FINANCE
The Top Dealmakers are: Mel Roth, Jay Steinman, Ralph Moreno

As the credit markets were going into a deep freeze, Mortgage broker Mel Roth landed $250 million in fianance for Met 2. Steinman and Moreno represented several of the lenders in the deal.

PUBLIC FINANCE
The Top Dealmakers are: Albert A. del Castillo and Lori Smith-Lalla

Albert del Castillo guided a $1.75 billion debt securities offering by state-run Citizens Property Insurance at the start of last year’s hurricane season despite cloudy market conditions. Del Castillo, a partner in the Miami office of Squire, Sanders & Dempsey, led a team of attorneys that included partner Lori Smith-Lalla.

INTERNATIONAL CORPORATE
The Top Dealmakers are: Alcides Avila and Asnardo Garro

Keeping a secret of Spanish bank Caja Madrid’s plan to buy a $927 million majority stake in Miami-based City National Bank of Florida was one of the biggest challenges faced by the partners at Avila Rodriguez Hernandez Mena & Ferri, while representing the buyer, which acquired an 83 percent stake in the bank.

INTERNATIONAL FINANCE
The Top Dealmaker is: Carlos Viana

Carlos and his team represented mobile phone company Telefoncia Moviles Colombia in securing $600 million in financing from the Inter-American Development Bank and a group of commercial banks.

CORPORATE
The Top Dealmaker in corporate is: Jonathan Awner

The Akerman Senterfitt shareholder shepherded through the $4.5 billion merger of Fort Lauderdale-based Republic Services and Phoenix-based Allied Waste Industries.

CORPORATE FINANCE
The Top Dealmaker is: Mark Bagnall

 

The White & Case partner proved adept at juggling the interests of Credit Suisse Securities and 17 other underwriters in a $12.2 billion global public offering of common and preferred stock of Companhia Vale do Rio Doce, one of the world’s largest mining companies.

No. Planned. Gang. Initiation. At. Wal-Mart.

There is no planned murderous gang initiation at a Wal-Mart store, Broward Sheriff’s Office wrote in the Best. Media. Incident. Alert. Ever.

The missive issued at 2:26 p.m. Wednesday tells listserv readers what the department’s spokespeople are up to:

"The BSO Office of Media Relations is currently working a developing incident regarding an urban legend hoax located at: nowhere really. Public Information officer Jim Leljedal is currently gathering the details. Here’s what we know so far: The report that a murderous gang initiation is planned at Walmart is a long-running hoax that has resurfaced. It is an urban legend that has been circulating for several years. Please disregard. This information should be considered preliminary, and as with any developing situation, the details may change."

The department issued the alert after receiving a number of calls about the hoax, Leljedal said.

More information about the rumor can be found at:
www.snopes.com/crime/gangs/walmart.asp

Attorney, boater honored for saving lifeless man floating near Key Largo

Jeffrey Bass, a Miami land-use attorney and a familiar face in city and county halls during a recent construction boom, is also a hero.

Tuesday, Bass and a fellow boater received the Carnegie Medal for saving the life of a man in the waters off Key Largo.

On Sept. 29, Bass and fishing guide James Christopher Koch saw an out-of-control boat circling a man floating face down and apparently lifeless. Norberto Martinez, 67, had been tossed from his 18-foot boat after the craft hit a channel marker about a half-mile from shore.

Dodging Martinez’s unmanned boat, Koch, 39 maneuvered close to Martinez. Bass, sprawled on the bow, grabbed Martinez and helped Koch lift the unconscious man aboard.

Martinez, whose back was slashed by the boat’s propeller, was hospitalized and later recovered.

"He was cut open … it was the most horrific day of my life," said Bass, 40, a founding member of Shubin & Bass. "It changed my life."

Bass and Koch received bronze medals in a ceremony at the Rod & Gun Club at Ocean Reef Club in Key Largo.

The Carnegie Hero Fund Commission, which first recognized the men’s actions in late September, honors civilians who risk their lives to save or attempt to save an endangered person.

The commission has awarded more than 9,000 medals from more than 80,000 nominees over 104 years.

Florida’s clerks of court find a friend in advocacy group

The state’s clerks of courts gained an ally in their legislative battle with the judiciary over filing fees and court-related tasks.

Advocacy group Common Cause Florida has come out strong against Senate Bill 2108 and House Bill 1121, which would shift money and duties from clerks to court administrators.

Common Cause Florida executive director Ben Wilcox argues it’s important to have an independent body overseeing court records to ensure transparency.

"At Common Cause, we’re a big fan of checks and balances," he said. "Having the administration of the court in the hands of an independent, constitutional elected official kind of makes sense from a good government perspective."

He argued the state should take the issue to voters if they want to make changes.

"I don’t know why you would want to strip the powers of the clerk of courts," Wilcox said. "Just in its name: that person is designated the clerk of the courts in the constitution."

Wilcox said his organization, while it is not as focused on the monetary impact, agrees courts are underfunded but doesn’t believe they should increase their coffers with money now going to clerks.

The measure being pushed by the courts have garnered support from The Florida Bar, plaintiff lawyers groups and business associations.

Judicial contenders for 2010 throwing early hats into ring

There’s already a contested judicial race brewing for a Miami-Dade Circuit Court seat.

Two days after Miami solo practitioner Patricia Kopco filed last month, criminal defense attorney Miguel de la O submitted papers to run against her for the seat being vacated by Judge Judith Kreeger, who is reaching the state’s mandatory judicial retirement age.

With investiture ceremonies from the latest round of judicial elections just wrapping up, Kopco and de la O join Miami criminal defense lawyer Milton Hirsch and civil litigator Robert Kuntz Jr. with Devine Goodman Rasco & Wells in Miami as early entrants in the 2010 judicial election.

Kopco, who lost a November runoff to Yvonne Colodny, became a lawyer after a long career as a television reporter that included hitches in Latin America.

De la O is managing partner of de la O Marko Magolnick & Layton and previously worked with Miami attorney Neal Sonnett, Sonnett Sale & Kuehne and Steel Hector & Davis before it was absorbed by Squire Sanders & Dempsey.

Not following her mentor this time

Former Epstein Becker & Green associate Rashida Ivy could have followed litigator Joseph Klock Jr. a second time as he switched firms.

After all, she joined Klock when he left Squire Sanders & Dempsey for Epstein Becker & Green in 2007. Klock headed Steel Hector & Davis as managing partner before it merged with Squire in 2005.

Klock announced in January that Ivy would be going with him to Coral Gables-based Rasco Klock Reininger Perez Esquenazi Vigil & Nieto along with another Epstein Becker associate and a former Berger Singerman shareholder.

Instead Ivy, a black woman associate with 10 years of criminal and civil litigation experience, swerved last month and joined Zumpano Patricios & Winker, the diversity-rich Coral Gables-based firm.

Ivy said she joined Zumpano because of the opportunity to make partner and the flexibility to have time for her children.

"I have two kids. That’s always a concern for me," she said. "They don’t do the mommy track. At a lot of firms, they’ll work with you but you’ll never make partner."

Klock met Ivy when representing a pro bono client against her in a criminal matter when she was with the Miami-Dade state attorney’s office. He described her as an aggressive litigator who was bold enough to have armed officers serve papers on one of his clients at his law office.

Klock said he was so taken aback — not to mention impressed — that he began recruiting her. Ivy said she wasn’t interested at first in going to a law firm environment, but after several months she made the leap in 2004.

"She was kicking me around big time," Klock said. "Naturally she wasn’t successful. She came close to it. Close enough that we had to hire her."

Ivy didn’t move with Klock this time but said she has a positive relationship with him and considers him a valuable mentor.

"Just because we’re not in the same place doesn’t mean we’re not friends," she said. "That’s a good fit for him. This is a good fit for me."

Father, son say Related forged signatures to keep deposit on Trump Tower

At a time when Related Group is struggling to pay down debt, the giant condo developer has become a magnet for lawsuits by unit buyers looking for any strategy to get their deposits back.

Now Ken Borinsky and Mark Borinsky, a father and son who are trying to recover more than $200,000, are claiming the Related Group forged their signatures on a pre-construction contract for a condo at the 271-unit Trump Tower II in Sunny Isles Beach.

The lawsuit says Related is guilty of civil theft, fraud and violating the civil Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act.

The lawsuit also names developers Donald Trump, Michael Dezer and Gil Dezer as defendants. They are Related’s partners in the Trump Tower project. The Borinskys are not claiming the Dezers or the real estate mogul and TV reality show star knew or participated in forgery or fraud, said Fort Lauderdale attorney Joseph Altschul. His firm, Joseph E. Altschul, represents Borinsky.

The lawsuit was filed in Miami-Dade Circuit Court on Feb. 26.

Betsy McCoy, Related Group’s associate general counsel, said her company had "extensive discussions" with Altschul before he filed the "frivolous" suit. She said the facts and documents do not support the lawsuit’s allegations.

"For various reasons, some buyers are trying to walk from their contractual obligations without consequence," she said. "This is an example of one of the new and outrageous strategies. Civil RICO is a serious allegation made without legal or factual basis."

Altschul said the Borinskys want to recover a $205,580 deposit they made in March 2005 to buy the unit. The suit claims that 10 months after signing the contract, the developer sent them an amended floor plan showing that a private entrance to an elevator had been eliminated, the master bedroom had been reduced in size by 27 percent, a second bedroom had been downsized 19 percent and the den by 18 percent.

The Borinskys didn’t accept the revised floor plan and demanded their money back, according to the suit. The Borinskys say Related representatives told them the deposit would be returned when construction was completed. They asked again in mid- 2008 that the money be returned, as construction was nearing completion, but were rebuffed.

The developer said there was "no legal basis" to cancel the agreement and faxed them the amended floor-plan containing "forged and/or copied signatures … in hopes of convincing them that they had approved" the amended floor plan, according to the lawsuit.

Hundreds of condo buyers who signed pre-construction contracts before the housing market crashed in 2007 are suing to recover their deposits from developers, including Related, which built close to a dozen condo towers across South Florida.