Overview

Brett J. Cohen is a partner in Glaser Weil’s Real Estate Department whose practice focuses significantly on real estate finance. Brett develops creative solutions to difficult financing issues and has the critical experience needed to drive complex and challenging financing processes on behalf of lenders, borrowers, developers, joint venture partners and corporations.

His clients have included commercial, industrial and residential property owners, developers and lenders throughout California, as well as Las Vegas developers and casino and hotel owners.

Brett is particularly sought after for:

  • Sophisticated loan transactions, including:
    • Real property secured loans
    • Asset-based financing
    • Loan workouts
  • General real estate transactions, including:
    • Acquisitions and dispositions
    • Leasing of real property
    • Urban infill
    • Land use
    • Single-family residential developments

Brett served on the Meritas Board of Directors and currently serves on the Meritas US Leadership Committee and various other committees. Meritas is a global alliance of independent law firms. Brett continues to serve as Glaser Weil’s primary contact with this organization, which assists clients and colleagues looking for top-tier legal services around the globe.

Brett is active in the local community, providing pro bono lead counsel and support to the Saint John’s Health Center Foundation and the John Wayne Cancer Institute at Saint John’s Health Center for charitable gifts of real property. Brett also served on the boards of the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Youth Foundation and the Los Angeles County Bar Foundation as well as on the UCLA School of Law Facilities Committee. He provides mentorship through the UCLA Law School and the UCLA Ziman Real Estate Law Program, volunteers for the Westside Food Bank, serves on multiple Westside school boards, was a commissioner for YMCA youth basketball, and was a coach for Little League and youth league basketball. Additionally, he is involved in the Cornell and UCLA Alumni Association and the Citizens’ Oversight Committee for the Beverly Hills Unified School District, and he is a supporter of the Beverly Hills Athletic Alumni Association.

Brett loves spending time with his wife, Kelly, a fitness studio owner and enthusiast; his two adult sons; and the family’s various dogs.

Results

Brett’s notable experience includes his representation of:

  • A prominent real estate firm specializing in the acquisition and development of high-street mixed-use properties in various acquisitions, including the purchase of one of the premier commercial buildings in “Old Town” Pasadena, California; the acquisition of a premier urban retail property from a real estate investment trust (REIT), which included complex deal terms, a significant loan, and deed conditions, covenants and restrictions (CC&Rs) for shared space; and the acquisition and redevelopment of prime retail space on Santa Monica’s iconic Third Street Promenade.
  • Multiple high-profile entertainers in connection with corporate and real estate matters, including a 1031 exchange involving multiple sound studios.

Additional matter highlights include his representation of:

  • A national title insurance company in connection with sophisticated foreclosure issues (potential “chilling” of bids in which multiple properties secured by multiple deeds of trust were foreclosed simultaneously).
  • A prominent local bank in connection with a $42 million loan secured by a regional shopping center in Valencia, California, and a $20.7 million construction loan in Santa Barbara, California.
  • A prominent high-tech investment fund, as borrower, in connection with an acquisition and construction loan for its new state-of-the-art Beverly Hills headquarters.
  • A real estate fund in connection with a $76 million construction loan for a new major regional mixed-use mall in Central California.
  • A major Las Vegas casino and hotel owner in connection with the financing for the construction and development of CityCenter, one of the largest mixed-use developments in the United States.
  • A major Las Vegas casino and hotel owner in connection with the sale of a casino/hotel on the Las Vegas strip.
  • The owner of a portfolio of West Los Angeles apartment buildings in connection with the refinancing of the portfolio.
  • A developer on the development of a condominium, single-family home and retail development in South Central Los Angeles involving the simultaneous acquisition of 24 properties, senior acquisition and construction financing, mezzanine financing, and multiple joint venture agreements with the City of Los Angeles.
  • The buyer of commercial property in Brentwood, California, in its concurrent assumption of construction financing and the conversion of multiple limited-liability companies to a tenancy in common.
  • Limited partners and tenants at the regional produce market facility in downtown Los Angeles in connection with the refinancing and organizational restructuring of the market.
  • An East Coast bank in the workout of a multimillion-dollar, multistate loan involving 11 different hotel properties, including advising the client on complex “one form of action,” deed-in-lieu of foreclosure and title issues.
  • A borrower in the financing of the construction of a regional hospital and an adjacent medical office building in Westlake Village.

Insights

Awards and Recognition

Awards and Recognition

Southern California Super Lawyers, multiple years

Super Lawyers Corporate Counsel

“Top Rated Lawyers Guide to Corporate Real Estate Law,” Corporate Counsel and The American Lawyer, 2012

“Top Lawyer,” Beverly Hills Courier, October 14, 2010

Martindale-Hubbell AV Preeminent Peer Rating

Leadership and Community

Advisory Board Member, Lowell Milken Institute for Business Law and Policy 

Board Member, Los Angeles County Bar Foundation

Board Member, Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Youth Foundation

Member, Citizens’ Oversight Committee for the Beverly Hills Unified School District

Member, City of Hope Los Angeles Real Estate & Construction Industries Council

Member, Cornell Alumni Association

Member, Meritas US Leadership Committee

Member, Motion Picture & Television Fund Professional Advisory Network

Member, UCLA Alumni Association

Member, UCLA School of Law Facilities Committee

Mentor, UCLA Ziman Real Estate Law

Pro Bono Lead Counsel and Support, Saint John’s Health Center Foundation

Pro Bono Lead Counsel and Support, John Wayne Cancer Institute at Saint John’s Health Center

Volunteer, Westside Food Bank

Services

Education

UCLA School of Law, J.D.

UCLA Anderson School of Management, M.B.A.

Cornell University, B.S., Industrial & Labor Relations and Economics

Admissions

  • California

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