Starnes-Anglea, Allison James

Jeff Stahl is a member of the firm concentrating his practice primarily in the areas of commercial real estate and business transactions, and has significant experience in secured lending and development financing. He leads the firm's team of attorneys in troubled loans and workouts. His clients include financial institutions, commercial real estate developers and investors, home builders and business buyers and sellers.

Jeff has represented clients in the acquisition of major flag hotels; retail product from single-tenant triple net to grocery anchored strips to power centers to malls; office buildings; warehouse, industrial, self-storage and tech buildings; apartment complexes; entertainment destination real estate including land based and dockside casinos; and a wide variety of mixed use properties. Jeff has particular expertise in assisting developers of the foregoing property types, as well as residential subdivisions, in the entitlement and construction of these assets. As an adjunct to these transactions, he has performed countless due diligence efforts, including complex title and survey analysis, environmental review, lease analysis and zoning and land entitlement efforts. Jeff has negotiated brokerage agreements; leases of all types of real estate, including land leases, master leases, and synthetic leases; construction, architect and design build agreements; easement and license agreements; partnership and venture agreements, and a full array of financing documents.

Jeff routinely works with his clients to find creative solutions in acquisition and financing of their deals, including joint ventures with land owners, equity, mezzanine and straight debt, construction and permanent loans, equity and debt raises, tenants in common and like-kind exchange vehicles, and alternative entity structures. Jeff is very familiar with life company and conduit financing structures. Over the last 18 months Jeff and others have negotiated troubled loan workouts with principal balances aggregating in excess of $1,200,000,000.

As counsel to numerous lenders, including tenure as general counsel to a Chicago bank, and counsel to equity and debt funds, Jeff has developed an expertise in loan documentation and structuring from a lender's perspective, as well.

As a counselor to his clients, Jeff has joined in many business and strategic planning programs, with a variety of clients with varying business interests, and at varying stages of their development life cycle. Jeff is constantly sought out and widely respected for his practical advice, street smarts, and ability to deal with clients by speaking their language. He has served on various boards of directors and trustees. Jeff, together with members of the firm's litigation and bankruptcy departments, has negotiated loan workouts, restructurings, and foreclosures on behalf of both lenders and borrowers in 2009, the loan balances of which exceed One Billion Two Hundred Million Dollars.