Jessica Bula focuses her practice on commercial real estate finance and investment, with a specialty in hospitality transactions. She routinely advises lenders with respect to the unique aspects of hotel management agreements and franchise agreements that govern the operation and flagging of hotel collateral. In connection with various mortgage and mezzanine loan originations, she has negotiated hotel comfort letters and subordination agreements for over 1200 hotel properties. The representative collateral for such transactions has ranged from luxury resorts in the Caribbean and Hawaii to large portfolios of select service hotels across the U.S. and Canada.
Jessica has worked extensively on other types of complex collateral in commercial real estate transactions, including ground leases, condominium structures and development projects. Additionally, she has significant experience in resolving non-performing loans through loan restructurings, workouts and foreclosures of complex-distressed debt structures. She has represented a number of investment banks, life insurance companies, commercial banks, institutional investors and loan servicers.
- Negotiated comfort letters and subordination agreements on behalf of a variety of lenders for over 1200 hotel properties.
- Represented a lender in connection with several construction loans for hotel projects, including a high-end condominium project containing licensed rights from a luxury hotel brand.
- Represented the lenders with respect to complex collateral structure, in connection with the origination of mortgage and mezzanine loans secured by a trophy office building in New York City, which was subject to a condominium structure, owner’s association declaration, PILOT regime, and easements with Amtrak and the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey.
- Represented the lender in connection with the origination of a mortgage loan secured by a hotel resort located in Hawaii, with complex condominium and residential unit components.
- Represented the lender in a mezzanine foreclosure of four crossed junior mezzanine loans, secured by indirect ownership interests in New York condominium conversion projects.
- Represented the special servicer with respect to the restructuring of a $232 million mortgage loan secured by 21 hotel properties.
- Represented the special servicer with respect to the restructuring of a $120 million mortgage loan secured by a retail property located in Puerto Rico.
- Beds Without Heads: Hotels in the Era of the Coronavirus - Dechert LLP,
COVID-19 Coronavirus Business Impact Podcast (April 9, 2020)
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- Northwestern University, B.A., 2002
- University of Connecticut School of Law, J.D., 2005, with Honors
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- Connecticut