Overview

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Joseph Vargas is a Partner in Buchalter’s Los Angeles office. He is recognized for his sophisticated practice representing commercial banks, private lenders, institutional finance clients, owners, and developers in complex real estate and commercial finance transactions across the United States.

Mr. Vargas advises on the structuring, negotiation, and documentation of a wide range of real estate-secured financings, with particular experience in construction lending, as well as acquisition, rehabilitation, bridge, and other structured credit facilities involving retail, industrial, office, multifamily, and hospitality assets. He also represents lenders and borrowers in asset-based, secured, and unsecured commercial finance transactions, with particular strength in transactions involving mixed collateral pools of real and personal property.

In addition to his finance practice, Mr. Vargas has substantial experience handling the acquisition, disposition, and financing of commercial real estate on a nationwide basis. He advises clients in the purchase and sale of office, industrial, multifamily, hospitality, and other commercial assets, as well as in leasing, development, and other strategic real estate transactions throughout California and across the country.

With more than 25 years of experience, he regularly counsels clients through the full arc of a credit relationship, from origination through restructuring, modification, forbearance, enforcement, and recovery. His practice includes middle-market and large syndicated transactions, multi-state financings, debtor-in-possession and Section 363 financings, and complex loan workouts and collateral realization strategies.

He is particularly valued for his deep command of California’s one-action and anti-deficiency regime and his ability to navigate the structural and enforcement issues those rules present in sophisticated secured lending transactions.

  • Represented an agent bank in a syndicated $100+ million mixed collateral loan providing ground up construction financing for a public museum.
  • Represented an agent bank in complex unsecured $750 million, syndicated revolving credit facilities to publicly traded real estate investment trust.
  • Represented a bank in $38 million multi-family project financing.
  • Represented a bank in numerous construction financing loans for the development of charter school facilities.
  • Represented an institutional lender in $140+ million multi-state hotel portfolio acquisition financing.
  • Represented a lender in $20+ million marina acquisition loan in Northern California.
  • Represented an institutional lender in numerous mixed collateral loan financings involving both personal and real property located in over 30 states.
  • Represented an institutional lender in numerous real estate financings for hotel, multifamily, industrial, and office properties ranging from middle market to large complex transactions.
  • Represented construction lenders in numerous financings, including office building, rehabilitation, multifamily, office, and condominium projects.
  • Represented an institutional lender in providing tax credit related loans involving state and federal historic tax credits, low income housing and new markets tax credits.
  • Represented a developer-borrower in secured real estate financings with institutional lenders.
  • Represented Bank of the West as administrative agent in the upsizing of the Duckhorn credit facilities.

Admissions

  • California
  • U.S. District Court for the Central District of California

Education

  • Loyola Law School, J.D.
  • Loyola Marymount University, B.S., Accounting

  • Tax Credits

  • Member, Business Law Section of the American Bar Association
  • Member, Real Estate Section of the Los Angeles County Bar Association.
    • He received the 2009 Outstanding Young Lawyer Award presented by the Los Angeles County Bar Association Real Property Section.

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