ECJ’s Joan Velazquez and Albert Valencia Named 2021 Commercial Real Estate Visionaries

Ervin Cohen & Jessup is delighted to announce that Partners and Real Estate Practice Group Chairs Joan B. Velazquez and Albert C. Valencia have been recognized in Commercial Real Estate Magazine as ‘2021 Commercial Real Estate Visionaries.’ This inaugural issue honors noteworthy real estate professionals for their “successes and accomplishments during the last 24 months, as well as their exemplary leadership within their organizations and communities across Southern California,” reported the Los Angeles Times B2B magazine.

“Joan and Al are talented lawyers who continually prove their abilities to deliver the Firm’s clients with the highest degree of strategy and service, and provide unsurpassed mentorship in developing a multi-generational team that can effectively service all major aspects of commercial real estate transactions,” said Co-Managing Partner Randy Leff.

The magazine writes that “Joan Velazquez is a creative problem solver and proven deal maker who never loses sight of her clients' business goals. She understands that her job is to mitigate her client’s legal risks while letting them realize the business opportunity in every deal.”

“Clients look to Valencia for his experience in a broad range of real estate asset classes including multi-family, office, retail, mixed-use and industrial properties. He regularly represents clients in forming joint-ventures and syndications, negotiating structured finance transactions including obtaining CMBS loans, mezzanine debt and preferred equity, and assisting property owners in asset management,” says the feature.

Joan represents real estate owners, developers, investors, lenders, contractors and asset managers in connection with a wide range of projects, including the acquisition, financing, development, leasing, management and sale of commercial real estate. The publication adds that “having structured, documented and closed more than one billion dollars of financing transactions over the past years, she guides clients with distressed properties in successfully restructuring existing debt. Additionally, her tax background gives her a competitive advantage when structuring deals so she can increase the net return to her clients. Recently, Joan represented the borrower of a $350 million construction loan for a multi-phase residential mixed-use project in Los Angeles.”

Al’s clients include developers, operators, private equity investors and lenders in a broad range of real estate transactions, including acquisitions and dispositions, joint ventures and syndications, leasing, financing, construction, workouts and restructurings. He is adept at meeting clients’ needs and recently, amidst the COVID-19 pandemic, successfully represented a joint venture in its purchase and financing of the 297,277 square foot Summit IV office campus in Aliso Viejo, CA, which is one of the biggest office deals completed in Orange County this year.