Ira is one of the leading real estate lawyers in the United States, having expanded his historic real estate finance experience into all manners of real estate development representations. As described by his clients in the Chambers & Partners publication, Ira is "incredibly smart, fantastically practical, hard-working, and a delight to work with." Ira is a deal maker and consensus builder who earns the appreciation of clients and adverse parties alike.

Real Estate Finance

Beginning his career in 1976, as in house real estate counsel at Union Mutual Life Insurance Company (now known as UNUM), Ira found his calling in representing the company's interests in real estate financings nationwide. The wide and varied nature of the transactions and the structural elements involved led to a lifelong interest in the intellectual side of the practice. Ira utilizes this wellspring of knowledge and experience for the benefit of his clients, be they national and local lenders, on the one hand, or developers and borrowers, on the other. The breadth of his knowledge in all facets of real estate and commercial law, including secured lender remedies, ownership entity formation, property acquisition and development, leasing and workouts, has only served to enhance his finance representation capabilities.

Public-Private Partnerships

Public-Private Partnerships have been a passion of Ira's since his early involvement in the redevelopment process in the portions Marina del Rey, California owned by the County of Los Angeles and ground leased to a variety of developers for a variety of uses. The typical structure is a ground lease from the governmental entity sometimes accompanied by a development agreement with the governmental entity. Within that structure the developer/lessee commits to develop the improvements and to pay as rent a percentage of the revenues generated by the project and a percentage of the increase in value of the project upon a sale. Among the issues that arise for negotiations are the extent and timing of the development (including public infrastructure), the term of the lease and extensions, rent structure, adjustments and renegotiation provisions, and future redevelopment issues in a creative partnership. The ability to incorporate the needs of both the governmental entity and developer is the key to a successful result.

Bar & Court Admissions

  • State Bar of California
  • Maine State Bar Association

Education

J.D., University of Maine School of Law, 1976, cum laude

B.A., Bates College, 1973

Trending
at Cox Castle

View All
Jump to Page

Cox, Castle & Nicholson Cookie Preference Center

Your Privacy

When you visit our website, we use cookies on your browser to collect information. The information collected might relate to you, your preferences, or your device, and is mostly used to make the site work as you expect it to and to provide a more personalized web experience. For more information about how we use Cookies, please see our Privacy Policy.

Strictly Necessary Cookies

Always Active

Necessary cookies enable core functionality such as security, network management, and accessibility. These cookies may only be disabled by changing your browser settings, but this may affect how the website functions.

Functional Cookies

Always Active

Some functions of the site require remembering user choices, for example your cookie preference, or keyword search highlighting. These do not store any personal information.

Form Submissions

Always Active

When submitting your data, for example on a contact form or event registration, a cookie might be used to monitor the state of your submission across pages.

Performance Cookies

Performance cookies help us improve our website by collecting and reporting information on its usage. We access and process information from these cookies at an aggregate level.

Powered by Firmseek