Laurie C. Nelson
Counsel
Laurie C. Nelson, counsel in Ropes & Gray's real estate investments & transactions group since 2009, focuses her practice on traditional and non-traditional real estate finance transactions, acquisitions and dispositions, and commercial leasing for landlords and tenants.
Ms. Nelson has almost 40 years of experience representing domestic and international clients in complex acquisition, development, and financing transactions in the office, retail and hospitality sectors, and is expert in in New York and national office, retail, industrial and data center leasing. Prior to joining Ropes & Gray, she spent 12 years as a senior attorney with Clifford Chance US LLP. In 2017, Ms. Nelson counseled a consortium of investors in a potential acquisition of the Plaza Hotel in Manhattan and has in the past served as US counsel to the Italian hotel company and developer The Statuto Group. She represented The Hearst Corporation in connection with the disposition of the Argonaut, a midtown Manhattan office building through a $185mm long-term net lease. She recently advised a national financial institution in its lease of over 500,000 square feet at the new One Congress tower in Boston, and for many years has represented Hariri Interests in all its US real estate investments, including the acquisition, development and financing of trophy office properties in Houston. Ms. Nelson maintains an active leasing practice advising tenants in office, retail, industrial, warehouse and data center leases in New York, New Jersey, Florida, California, Connecticut and Massachusetts. Ms. Nelson has been pro bono counsel to NYC Medics, a volunteer organization that rapidly deploys mobile medical teams to remote areas of disaster zones and humanitarian emergencies, since the organization’s founding in 2005. She served as chair of Ropes & Gray’s real estate training committee from 2011 until 2019, and in 2019 assumed leadership of Ropes & Gray’s real estate knowledge management initiative.
Experience
- Represented a group of affiliated publicly traded REITs in a series of acquisitions of commercial, medical and government office buildings in major U.S. cities, including Class A office buildings in Manhattan and Chicago, totaling more than $1 billion.
- Representing U.S., U.K. and Asia-based companies in leasing of office, retail, industrial and warehouse space throughout the U.S.
- Represented Montefiore Medical Center in its acquisition of Albert Einstein College of Medicine from Yeshiva University, involving over 20 parcels of owned and leased real estate with a stated aggregate value of $209 million, including asset, leasehold and equity transfers and establishment of multi-site easements.
- Represented a major Middle East-based investor in acquisitions, financings and dispositions of four Houston, TX office towers, in transactions valued at over $2 billion.
- Representing a national banking institution in all of its northeast leasing and subleasing activity.
- Representing a large U.S. media corporation in a series of Section 1031 like-kind exchanges aggregating $300 million.
- Represented Morgans Hotel Group in the $450 million refinancing of the Hudson Hotel in New York and the Delano Hotel in Miami.
- Represented a major northeastern university in the $38 million sale of its university club building, an historic Upper East Side townhouse.
- Representing the largest German printing company in the off-balance sheet financings (via sale-leaseback) of its U.S. regional headquarters in New York and New Hampshire.
Publications
- Co-author, “Commercial real estate in the United States,” Practical Law (April 2019)
- Co-author, “Commercial real estate in the United States,” Practical Law (December 2018)
- Co-Author, “Commercial Real Estate in the United States,” Practical Law (November 2017)
- Co-Author, “Commercial Real Estate in the United States,” Practical Law (November 2016)
- David Djaha, Laurie C. Nelson, Jaclyn Hong and Paul Kang, “U.S. Issues Orders Requiring Identification of All-Cash Buyers of High-End Residential Real Estate,” Ropes & Gray Alert (January 21, 2016)
- David Djaha, Laurie C. Nelson, Matthew J. Stoller and Rebecca H. Dorfan, “Commercial real estate in the United States: overview,” Practical Law Global Guide 2015/16 (November 2015)
- David C. Djaha, Laurie C. Nelson and Matthew J. Stoller, “Violations of SPE Covenants After 2008: Borrowers Beware,” New York Law Journal (December 15, 2014)
- Co-author, “Commercial real estate in United States: overview,” Practical Law’s Multi-Jurisdictional Guide 2014/15 (November 2014)
- David Djaha, Laurie Nelson, and Jennifer Huang, U.S. section of the Practical Law Company’s Corporate Real Estate Handbook (2012/2013)
- David Djaha, Laurie Nelson, and Garin Muranaka, “Primer for High Net Worth Individuals Buying Real Estate in NY,” Asian Real Estate Association of America Journal (Spring 2012)
- David Djaha, Laurie Nelson, and Lindsay Rabitz, U.S. section of the Practical Law Company’s Corporate Real Estate Handbook (2011/2012)
- David Djaha and Laurie Nelson, U.S. section of the Practical Law Company’s Corporate Real Estate Handbook (2010/2011)
- “Purchasing U.S. Real Estate—A Primer for Non-U.S. Investors,” IBA Newsletter (October 2010)
- David Djaha and Laurie Nelson, "Savvy Investing in Distressed Properties," The New York Law Journal (January 19, 2010)
- "Judgment Day for The Business Judgment Rule, Galef v. Alexander," 47 Brooklyn Law Review 1169 (1981)
Education
- JD, Brooklyn Law School, 1982; Second Circuit Review Editor of Brooklyn Law Review
- BA (Sociology/Anthropology), with Distinction, Swarthmore College, 1977