Adam Leitman Bailey Named One of New York’s Most Powerful Real Estate Attorneys by the Commercial Observer
Attorneys are behind the scenes of any real estate transaction. They counsel their clients on land use, zoning and a labyrinth of abstruse regulations. Commercial Observer felt that any of these attorneys could have found his or her way onto our Power 100 list, but we’ve chosen to showcase them here, since they, too, deserve to be acknowledged for their contributions to New York’s real estate ecosystem.
Adam Leitman Bailey
Adam Leitman Bailey P.C.
Adam Leitman Bailey, the loquacious head of his eponymous firm, has built a practice of 26 attorneys who have taken on some sizable real estate battles. These include representing property owners and tenants in East Harlem in their legal battle against the city over losing their land to eminent domain. He represents real estate company BCB Properties (Robert Durst is an investor) and orchestrated the evictions of tenants at a number of its Crown Heights properties (allowing BCB to sell two properties for record prices.) But on the other side of the coin Mr. Bailey is also representing tenants of Ziel Feldman’s Chatsworth building on West 72nd Street in a lawsuit that accuses Mr. Feldman’s firm of “harassing the tenants and trying to kick them out of their units,” according to the attorney. “This is the most exciting time to be in the real estate business as a litigator because the deals are the biggest they’ve ever been and the people are fighting like they’ve never fought before over every inch of New York City property,” Mr. Bailey told CO.
Robert Ivanhoe
Greenberg Traurig
Robert Ivanhoe has been the chair of Greenberg Traurig’s global real estate practice for the past 20 years. In his role, he oversees 140 attorneys, the largest real estate practice in the country. Mr. Ivanhoe had a banner year; he led his firm’s team in the $1.95 billion sale of the Waldorf Astoria and the $230 million sale of the 114-room Baccarat Hotel, which fetched roughly $2 million per room. When the Crown Building at 730 Fifth Avenue closed this past month for $1.78 billion, Mr. Ivanhoe represented General Growth Properties. “The market is very tight. There’s a tremendous amount of capital that’s chasing just about every deal that comes on the market,” Mr. Ivanhoe told CO. “There’s much more capital from abroad than I’ve ever seen, [especially] from Asia and the Middle East. Everything is very competitive.”
Adam Leitman Bailey, P.C. notes Adam Leitman Bailey as the only Real Estate Litigator named to the Leading Legals: New York’s Most Powerful Real Estate Attorneys section of the Commercial Observer’s Eighth Annual Power 100.