Brock E. McCandless

Represented affiliates of Equus Capital Partners, Ltd. in the acquisition of a portfolio of industrial properties throughout the Southeast and Sun Belt in a transaction valued in excess of $900 million. The portfolio consists of 75 properties, covering approximately 5.4 million sq. ft. total, located in South Florida, Houston, Dallas, the Baltimore-Washington Corridor, Richmond, Atlanta, and Greenville, S.C. This representation included assisting Equus with a senior mortgage loan and a mezzanine loan originated by affiliates of New York investment bank Morgan Stanley for an aggregate amount of $646.9 million.

Represented Arden Real Estate Partners III, L.P. and certain of its affiliates in the recapitalization of its ten million sq. ft. industrial portfolio valued at over $700 million, and in its programmatic joint venture with the U.S. arm of Arcapita Group, a Bahraini-based institutional investor. This complex transaction involved 22 assets in multiple states and followed Shariah structure. 

Represented Krise Transportation, Inc., a school transportation services provider, in its sale to an affiliate of Access Holdings Management Company LLC, a Baltimore-based investment firm. This transaction drew on the experience of the firm's corporate, tax, real estate, and employee benefits and executive compensation attorneys.

Represented affiliates of Equus Capital Partners, Ltd. in a multi-tiered transaction that included the sale of two portfolios of industrial assets totaling 88 properties throughout the Southeastern United States in a transaction with a value in excess of $1 billion. As lead counsel our representation included negotiating, documenting, and closing the sale and purchase transactions establishing two new joint ventures with the real estate affiliates of the contract purchaser for the acquisition, ownership, and management of the portfolio, and negotiating the terms of and closing two single-asset CMBS loans originated by Goldman Sachs in the aggregate amount of $686 million.

Represented Matthews International in the sale of its 650,000 sq. ft. facility located in Butler, Pa. The transaction also involved a lease back to Matthews of approximately 400,000 sq. ft.

Successfully represented a development partnership in connection with one of the largest real estate deals in downtown Pittsburgh in 2020, transforming an iconic department store building into a premier Class A-plus, mixed-use facility. Assisted primarily with resolving more than $6 million in mechanics’ liens and claims filed by approximately 75 contractors and vendors relating to work performed or materials provided for the prior owner’s redevelopment efforts.

Represented the U.S. subsidiary of global investment management company in its $110.25 million acquisition of, and $71.7 million financing in connection with, a 207,000 sq. ft., four-story, new construction, single-tenant office building located within the Lincoln Yards Development in Chicago. This representation included negotiation of acquisition and financing documents, coordination of sharia-compliant documents with con-counsel, conducting title and survey review, drafting organizational documents, and preparing for and handling the closing of both the acquisition and the loan.

Represented United Hydrogen Group, Inc., a Pittsburgh-based, vertically integrated supplier of hydrogen to the automotive fuel cell and industrial markets throughout the United States, in its sale to Plug Power, Inc. (NYSE: PLUG), a provider of hydrogen engines and fueling solutions enabling e-mobility. The transaction involved the sale of a manufacturing plant in southeast Tennessee, corporate headquarters in Pennsylvania, and property in California. The majority of UHG's shareholders are Czech Republic individuals and corporations. The transaction drew on the experience of the firm's corporate, real estate, tax, commercial litigation, and environmental attorneys.