Skip to main content

Bruce Fischer is the Chair of the West Coast Real Estate Practice and Co-Managing Shareholder of the firm's Orange County office. He focuses his practice on working with real estate funds, real estate investment trusts (REITs) and institutional owners, and their advisors, in connection with the purchase and sale, ground-up development, and financing of commercial properties (including multi-property and multi-state portfolio sales and acquisitions), directly or through the formation of joint ventures with local operators and/or developers.

Bruce also represents institutional lenders and institutional owners in connection with workouts involving complex loan restructuring, foreclosures, deeds in lieu of foreclosure, and the appointment of receivers. Additionally, his practice includes the representation of institutional lenders and borrowers regarding the origination of construction loans, permanent loans and credit enhancement involving commercial projects, multi-phase residential projects, and affordable housing projects.

Concentrations

  • Real estate funds
  • REITs
  • Acquisitions and dispositions
  • Joint ventures
  • Commercial real estate financing
  • Complex loan restructuring and workouts

Beginning in 2010, the year in which Bruce joined Greenberg Traurig, the deal flow for him and his team in Orange County has included over 108 separate acquisitions, including portfolios, ranging in size from $7.5 million to $655 million and aggregating an amount in excess of $7 billion. These acquisitions have been structured in a variety of ways, including the acquisition of equity interests (including REIT shares) in the underlying asset owner and the formation of joint ventures with the sellers of the property and have included a variety of real estate classes, including office and high rise buildings, industrial buildings, retail buildings, condos, apartments, hotels, and vacant land.

Bruce’s experience in representing his clients in connection with the disposition of commercial real estate in the United States is similar to his experience in the acquisitions, both in terms of reach throughout the United States and volume. His team’s deal flow in Orange County of dispositions during the last nine years has included over 141 separate dispositions, some of which were portfolios, ranging in size from $4.6 million to $1.2 billion and aggregating an amount in excess of $7.7 billion.

Bruce’s experience in commercial real estate financing includes documenting and counseling clients in connection with many forms of finance, including construction loans, mini-permanent loans, permanent loans, and mezzanine financings, including multiple layer mezzanine financings. Of his 38 years of experience in real estate, Bruce spent most of the first 15 years of his practice representing institutional lenders and closing more than 1000 commercial loans. Currently, Bruce represents borrowers and lenders in connection with commercial real estate financings throughout the United States. Over the last nine years, he and his team have counseled borrowers on over 147 separate commercial mortgage financings (many of which also included a layer of mezzanine financings and some of which were to be securitized) from over 20 different lenders in 29 states, ranging in size from $8.5 million to over $1 billion and aggregating an amount in excess of $13 billion. Bruce and his team also have skill in representing lenders in connection with their origination of mortgage loans and mezzanine loans. This experience enables the team to provide strategic advice to clients regarding loan deal terms.

Over the last nine years, Bruce and his team have also represented clients in numerous workout and restructure transactions, including large portfolio restructurings.

Capabilities

Experience

  • Represented client in connection with the disposition of 11 office buildings in nine (9) different states for $1.2 billion. 
  • Represented client in the acquisition of a 60-story, 1.3 million square foot office building in Chicago, Illinois, for $600 million.
  • Represented client in the disposition of a 40-story, 626,400 square foot office building in Los Angeles, California.
  • Represented client in the acquisition of three office towers in Emeryville, California, for $240 million.
  • Represented client, as borrower, in connection with a $1,000,010,000 permanent loan secured by an eight-property portfolio with properties located in six different states.
  • Represented client, as borrower, in connection with a $500 million permanent loan secured by an eight-property portfolio with properties located in seven different states.
  • Represented client, as borrower, in connection with a $458.5 million construction loan structured through the use of both tax-exempt bonds and taxable notes, which were backed through various levels of credit enhancement provided by institutional lenders, as well as a swap agreement covering the full $458.5 million in exposure.
  • Represented client (as the investor) in connection with the joint venture rehab of an office building in California with a total development budget of in excess of $125 million.
  • Represented client (as the investor) in connection with the joint venture development of three separate projects in North Carolina, consisting of office buildings and multi-family housing, with a total development budget in excess of $300 million.
  • Represented client (as the investor) in connection with the joint venture development of a 553-unit multi-family project in Utah with a total development budget in excess of $110 million.
  • Represented client (as the investor) in connection with the joint venture development of a 12-story office building in Colorado with a total development budget in excess of $113 million.
  • Represented the holder of a defaulted $500 million mezzanine loan that took control of the equity interests in 200 entities that indirectly owned 867 properties located in 36 different states, and which were encumbered by $1.55 million in mortgage debt, and the eventual sale of all of the 867 properties through a variety of portfolio sales and single property sales.
  • Represented the holder of a $180 million defaulted permanent loan, which was converted to a new$120 million permanent loan and a $60 million equity piece through a joint venture arrangement (in lieu of a deed in lieu) between the borrower and an affiliate of the lender.
  • Represented client (as the investor) in connection with the workout and restructure of a 30-property portfolio of office buildings in California that was originally acquired through a joint venture for a purchase price of $600 million. The workout and restructure involved the restructuring of the joint venture ownership structure as well as the debt structure (some of which was converted to equity interests).

Recognition & Leadership

  • Listed, Lawdragon, 500 Leading Global Real Estate Lawyers, 2024
  • Listed, The Best Lawyers in America, Real Estate Law, 2021-2025
  • Selected, LA TimesOC, "OC Visionaries," 2022
  • Listed, The Legal 500 United States, Real Estate, 2021 and 2023-2024      
  • Listed, Super Lawyers magazine, Southern California Super Lawyers, 2019-2021
  • Listed, Chambers USA Guide2008-2024
  • Team Member, Chambers & Partners USA Real Estate Law Firm of the Year, 2013, 2017-2018, and 2022
  • Team Member, U.S. News - Best Lawyers®, "Law Firm of the Year" in Real Estate Law, 2015
  • Team Member, The Legal 500 United States, "Top Tier" Firm in Real Estate, 2013 and 2014
  • Team Member, ACG New York Champion’s Awards, Deal of the Year (over $500mm); Cross-border Transaction of the Year (over $250mm) for $1.8 billion Acquisition of MacDermid, Inc. by Platform Acquisition Holdings Limited, 2014
  • Team Member, a Law360 "Real Estate Practice Group of the Year," 2011-2013, 2015, 2022, and 2023
  • Board Member, University of California Irvine, The Center for Real Estate, Advisory Board
  • Board Member, American Heart Association
  • CHOC Childrens’ Hospital – Annual Gala Committee 2018-2019
  • Member, Los Angeles County Bar Association, Real Property Section
    • Past Co-Chair, Real Estate Finance Subsection

Credentials

Education
  • J.D., University of Southern California Law School, 1982
  • B.A., University of California at San Diego, 1979
Admissions
  • California

Related Capabilities