Laurie C. Nelson

Counsel

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  • JD, Brooklyn Law School, 1982; Second Circuit Review Editor of Brooklyn Law Review
  • BA (Sociology/Anthropology), with Distinction, Swarthmore College, 1977

Qualifications

  • New York, 1983

Court Admissions

  • U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York, 1984
  • U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York, 1984
  • Association of the Bar of the City of New York
  • Chair of the Board of Directors, The Greenwich Village Chamber Singers

Laurie C. Nelson

Counsel

Laurie C. Nelson, counsel in Ropes & Gray's real estate investments & transactions group since 2009, focuses her practice on commercial leasing for tenants and landlords in the financial services, life sciences, retail and manufacturing sectors, traditional and non-traditional real estate finance transactions, acquisitions and dispositions, and counseling not-for-profit entities in a wide variety of real estate matters.

Ms. Nelson has deep experience in New York and national office, retail, industrial and data center leasing, which forms the core of her practice, and has over 40 years of experience representing domestic and international clients in complex acquisition, development, and financing transactions in the office, retail and hospitality sectors. She recently advised a national financial institution in its headquarters 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 U.S. real estate investments, including the acquisition, development and financing of trophy office properties in Houston. 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 U.S. 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 also actively represents numerous not-for-profit organizations in the education and health care spaces. 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. In 2022, Ms. Nelson received Ropes & Gray’s Deborah Levi Award for Outstanding Pro Bono Service.

Experience

  • Represented a national financial institution as tenant in its 20 year lease (with two ten-year FMV renewal options) of over 500,000 square feet of office space for its new headquarters at an office building under construction in downtown Boston, with a transaction value of approximately $700M.
  • Ongoing representation of a renowned life sciences research institute as tenant in its lease of an entire building in Cambridge, MA (225,000 square feet of office and laboratory space) from Boston Properties, for a term of 15 years plus two ten-year renewal options at FMV rent, with a lease value of $550M.
  • Represented Tiptree Inc. as tenant in a 10 year HQ lease with a FMV renewal option for 5 years, at 660 Steamboat Road in Greenwich, CT, with a lease value of $20M. 
  • Represented Tiptree, Inc. as sub-landlord in a sublease of its NY headquarters at 299 Park Avenue, New York, NY, with a deal value in excess of $13M.
  • Represented AXA Private Equity (Ardian US) as tenant in the expansion and amendment of an office lease at 1370 Avenue of the Americas, New York, NY, with an aggregate transaction value of $45M.
  • Represented CAMP4 Therapeutics as tenant in new office and lab lease at One Kendall Square, Cambridge MA, with a 7 year term and one 3 year FMV renewal option, with an aggregate value of $20 million.
  • Represented Veronis Suhler Stevenson & Co as tenant in a new ten year office lease at 400 Park Avenue, New York, NY, with a lease value of $12 million.
  • Represented a major real estate investment company in its NYC headquarters lease at Park Avenue Tower, with a lease value in excess of $5M.
  • Represented an established venture capital provider in a new downtown Boston office lease for a three year term, with state of the art "green building" provisions. Lease has a transaction value of $1.5M.
  • Ongoing representation of Canada Goose, Inc. as tenant in high end retail store leases throughout the United States. 
  • Representing U.S., U.K. and Asia-based companies in leasing of office, retail, industrial and warehouse space throughout the U.S.
  • Ongoing representation of a major Middle East-based investor in acquisitions, financings and dispositions of four Houston, TX office towers, in transactions valued at over $2 billion.
  • 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. 
  • Represented a major national bank as tenant in over 25 office and retail lease and sublease transactions.
  • Represented 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 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

  • JD, Brooklyn Law School, 1982; Second Circuit Review Editor of Brooklyn Law Review
  • BA (Sociology/Anthropology), with Distinction, Swarthmore College, 1977

Qualifications

  • New York, 1983

Court Admissions

  • U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York, 1984
  • U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York, 1984

Attorneys Co-author 2022 Overview of Commercial Real Estate in the U.S.

Managing partner David Djaha, real estate counsel Laurie Nelson, and associates Matthew Schryver, Justin Kaufman, and Nicholas Bebirian co-authored a broad analysis of commercial real estate trends in the United States over the past year. This Q& ...

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