Biography: Real Estate

A partner in the real estate department and a member of the firm's management committee, Meredith J Kane regularly represents developers, equity investors, institutional and entrepreneurial owners and government agencies in all aspects of development, finance, acquisitions and sales, equity joint ventures, restructuring, leasing and securitisation of real estate.

Ms Kane's experience includes all aspects of the finance and development of complex public/private joint venture projects including: the long-term lease acquisition of New York's World Trade Center complex; the development of MTA's 26-acre West Side Railyards on Manhattan's far west side as a proposed new development of over six million square feet of office space and 5000 residential units; the development of MTA's Atlantic Yards in Brooklyn as a proposed new development of up to 16 residential and commercial buildings; the representation of the Stuyvesant Town/Peter Cooper Village Tenants Association in the ownership and debt restructuring of the 11,000-unit residential complex; the retail redevelopment and historic restoration of Grand Central Terminal; the development and securitised financing of Brooklyn Renaissance Plaza and the Marriott at the Brooklyn Bridge, a 1.2 million square foot office and hotel complex in downtown Brooklyn; the development and financing of Avalon Chrystie Place, a 5-building, 720-unit housing, retail and community facility development in Manhattan's Cooper Square area; the development and financing of the 76-story Trump World Tower luxury condominium; the development and financing for two major mixed-use retail and residential projects in Flushing, Queens totaling over 5 million square feet; the development and financing of major proposed new and expanded cultural venues, including the New York City Opera, Brooklyn Academy of Music, Poets House, Little Shubert Theatre, and Seventh Regiment Armory; the redevelopment of nine historic theaters in the 42nd Street Development Project; the development and financing of a new arena for the Miami Heat basketball team; and the development and financing of numerous office, residential and mixed-use complexes.

She has represented Equitable, Avalon Bay Communities, The Lefrak Organization, GE Capital Investment Advisors, Muss Development Company, Daewoo Corporation, the Metropolitan Transportation Authority, Rockefeller Group Development Corporation, Carnival Corporation, Hyatt Hotels, and others in major real property acquisitions, sales, financings and developments.

Ms Kane was honoured as the 2009 Woman of the Year by WX - New York Women Executives in Real Estate, and was named one of the Top 50 Women in Real Estate and one of 25 Current Leaders in the Industry by Real Estate Weekly and The Association of Real Estate Women. Grid Magazine named her one of the top 10 American women in real estate development. She is cited as one of the leading real estate lawyers in the United States in the Chambers USA Guide (Band 1 ranked), Who's Who Legal, Legal 500 and numerous other peer-review publications. She is a member of the American College of Real Estate Lawyers.

Ms Kane was appointed to the World Trade Center Memorial Center advisory committee by the Lower Manhattan Development Corporation, and also serves as a member of its Residential Advisory Council. She is a regular speaker at professional forums on real estate development and finance, including stadium finance and housing finance. She is currently a member of the executive committee of the Avenue of the Americas Association, serving as chair from 1999-2007, and is a member of the Real Estate Board of New York (economic development and real estate finance committees), WX-Women Executives in Real Estate, the ULI-Urban Land Institute and the Association of the Bar of the City of New York.