Joel V. Sestito, Rachel E. Mather and Olivia S. Ortiz joined Blank Rome’s real estate group in Chicago as partner, of counsel and associate, respectively. Sestito, Mather and Ortiz joined from Akerman.
“We are thrilled to welcome Joel, Rachel and Olivia to the firm,” Grant S. Palmer, chair and managing partner at Blank Rome, said. “We have a strong national practice in complex real estate financing and the addition of this talented team enhances our capabilities. With decades of experience and exceptional insight into the real estate and financial markets, Joel and the team will be assets to our financial institution clients, especially national, regional and community banks, as they engage in commercial loan transactions.”
Sestito represents lenders at all stages of the loan process, including the negotiation and documentation of new loan transactions, the workout and disposition of troubled loan assets and the exercise of various creditor’s remedies. He advises clients regarding secured and unsecured, single lender and syndicated loans, revolving lines of credit, mezzanine loans, A/B loans, loan on loan financings and securitized loans. Joel also has experience with loan transactions that involve EB-5 financing, new markets tax credits, historic tax credits, low-income housing tax credits and ground lease financing. He also counsels clients in the acquisition, disposition, and development of multifamily, retail, office, industrial and other real estate assets.
Mather and Ortiz focus their practices on representing financial institutions and other lenders in syndicated and single-bank real estate and construction financing transactions. Mather also represents private equity and other strategic buyers in acquisition financing transactions and in representing borrowers and lenders in negotiating and documenting a variety of other secured and unsecured commercial lending transactions, including asset-based and cash-flow facilities, mezzanine debt facilities, international financing facilities and asset securitizations.
“With strong roots in Chicago and sophisticated national practices, Joel, Rachel and Olivia will be excellent additions to our growing office and to our local finance team,” Kenneth Ottaviano, partner and chair of the firm’s Chicago office, said. “Joel has represented lenders in a variety of multimillion dollar commercial loan transactions spanning senior housing, multifamily, single-family rental, and industrial construction—deals that are essential to the Chicago economy and beyond. The group’s experience will be invaluable to our growing office and the firm and I look forward to collaborating with them.”
“Blank Rome’s Real Estate practice is well-known and highly regarded,” Sestito said. “The group has developed a leading reputation in real estate finance, known for being efficient and effective with a collaborative team-based approach. I look forward to growing my practice and broadening the work we do for clients on the firm’s national real estate platform.”
