Biography
Charles Martin, a Partner in the firm’s Real Estate + Development Group, is a transactional commercial real estate attorney with almost two decades of experience counseling clients on redevelopment projects, the acquisition and disposition of commercial real estate, joint ventures and commercial leasing and financing transactions. Charles's clients include real estate investments funds, developers, REITs, multi-national corporations, institutional, public and private lenders, retailers, municipalities, hotel chains, manufacturers and more. In addition, Charles also serves as "outside general counsel" for several clients.
Development
Charles represents developers and municipalities in connection with commercial real estate development projects, including having represented the City of Norwalk in a public-private partnership among the City of Norwalk, the Norwalk Redevelopment Agency and Seligson Properties. The $600 million project was to be a major economic and social link in the city's plan to connect and unify central and south Norwalk along the West Avenue corridor, containing approximately 535,750 square feet of retail space, 350 residential units (approximately 15 percent affordable) and 75,000 square feet of office space. Legal services included all real estate, land use, environmental, and public finance aspects of the project, including drafting and negotiating the master developer agreement between the master developer, the Norwalk Redevelopment Agency, and the City of Norwalk and creating and drafting a statutory special services district that would have the power to contract for operating and maintaining public improvements within the boundaries of the district and the administration of the district.
Sales and Acquisitions / Financing Transactions
Charles represents sellers and buyers of commercial real estate throughout the country, including the acquisition and disposition of office buildings and retail centers. He represented the owner of a Greenwich office building that was sold for $51,000,000 and a New York based real estate fund in its purchase of an approximately $23,000,000 office building and a related $16,500,000 commercial mortgage-backed securities (CMBS) loan.
Leasing
Charles represents landlord and tenants in office, retail, restaurant and industrial leases, including FactSet Research Systems, Inc., a NYSE company, in its approximately 175,000 SF headquarters lease in Norwalk, Connecticut, which was recognized as the 2018 Fairfield County Lease of the Year, and a global financial services software company in its national and international leasing needs including its headquarters lease in Manhattan and other leases in Orlando, Florida, Portland, Oregon and Toronto, Ontario, Canada, among others.