Ryan W. Sawyer

Ryan W. Sawyer is a counsel in the firm’s Business Law Department and a member of its Real Estate Industry group. He joined Goodwin in 2014. Mr. Sawyer advises on a variety of commercial real estate transactions, including joint venture formation and acquisition transactions. He has experience working with institutional investment funds, real estate operators and REITs.

Mr. Sawyer recently represented:

• A non-traded real estate investment trust in its completed $1.8 billion acquisition of Equity Inns Lodging Portfolio from affiliates of Whitehall Real Estate Funds. The portfolio included 116 hotels with a combined 13,744 rooms across 31 states. The acquisition established the REIT as one of the largest select-service hotel REITs in North America.
• A real estate investment trust in a $500 million corporate debt restructuring related to a portfolio of shopping centers.
• A partnership in the sale of (1) the JW Marriott Orlando Grande Lakes, (2) the Ritz-Carlton Orlando, Grande Lakes, including the Ritz-Carlton Golf Club, and (3) the JW Marriott Phoenix Desert Ridge Resort & Spa, including the Wildfire Golf Club, for a purchase price of $1.245 billion.
• A joint venture in the acquisition and financing of 21 student housing apartment complexes for a purchase price of approximately $1.5 billion from a publicly traded real estate company. The financing consisted of multiple facilities which totaled approximately $700 million in new debt.
• An alternative asset management firm in its acquisition of 100% of the fee simple interests and 50% of the ground leasehold interests in a portfolio of 52 office properties. The portfolio consists of almost four million rentable square feet of office space in New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Virginia and North Carolina. The deal involved the bifurcation of the fee and ground leasehold estates, establishment of a new joint venture, and negotiating fee/leasehold/mezzanine financing documents ($350 million).
• An alternative asset management firm in a loan portfolio acquisition consisting of over 500 loans with an aggregate outstanding principal balance of almost $308 million. The loans are secured by mortgages in more than 20 different states.
• A publicly traded REIT in the UPREIT acquisition of the fee and leasehold interests in the 34-acre site located in Yonkers, New York for a purchase price of $51.7 million.
• A real estate operating company in refinancing a $100 million Freddie Mac CME loan secured by a portfolio of 11 multifamily properties in New Jersey and New York. In connection with the refinancing, the real estate operating company conveyed each property from its existing parent to newly formed special purpose entities in order to comply with Freddie Mac’s lending requirements.
• A real estate investment trust with the closing of a $205 million CMBS financing secured by its leasehold interest in an 825-room hotel in Boston, Massachusetts.
• A real estate investment firm in its joint venture investment in (1) 10 Post Office Square, a 13-story office building located in Boston, Massachusetts and (2) certain shares in corporations which own the Post Office Square Parking Garage. 
• A publicly traded REIT in the sale of a hotel in Key West, Florida for a purchase price of $94 million and the assignment of existing management agreements and franchise agreements. 
  A joint venture between an investment fund and a publicly traded REIT in a $160 million refinancing secured by 280,000 square feet of Class A office and laboratory space in Cambridge, Massachusetts.
• A real estate private equity firm in its formation of a joint venture, acquisition of a property on South Wacker Drive in Chicago, Illinois for $155.25 million, and mortgage financing in the amount of $133.7 million.
• A publicly traded REIT with the closing of a $127.5 million CMBS financing.
• A global private equity investor in a $100 million subscription secured credit facility.
• A real estate private equity firm in its formation of a joint venture, acquisition of property in Brooklyn, New York ($46 million), and mortgage/redevelopment financing in the amount of $51 million.
• A multi-national construction, property, and infrastructure company in connection with its acquisition of a vacant parcel in East Boston, Massachusetts for the development of a mixed use complex (residential/retail/restaurant).
• A real estate investment firm in regard to a $64 million acquisition of a multifamily development in Massachusetts from an investment management company.
• An international real estate investor and developer in the acquisition of a residential apartment complex for approximately $67 million.
• An alternative asset management company in connection with the development/sale of a mixed-use project in Orlando, Florida.
• An alternative asset manager in the sale of multifamily development site on Revere Beach, Massachusetts.
• A joint venture between publicly traded REITs with an $80 million mortgage loan to refinance a retail shopping center.
• A real estate investment firm in a $18.9 million credit facility with CIT Bank, as lender, and CIT Finance LLC, as administrative agent, secured by a mortgage on The Chesterfield Apartments located in Cleveland, Ohio. The loan proceeds were used to refinance existing debt and to renovate and rebrand the property.
• A real estate private equity firm in its joint venture investment in Oak Brook Executive Plaza, located in Oak Brook, Illinois with Golub Oak Brook EP Investors. Oak Brook Executive Plaza consists of 389,000 square feet of office and retail space spread throughout two identical 11-story office towers, a single-story “link” connecting the towers, and a separate four-story building.
  
   

Mr. Sawyer is a member of the Board of Trustees of the Pawtucket, Rhode Island Boys and Girls Club. He is also a Member of the National Association of Development Companies and the Boston Bar Association.

Mr. Sawyer has been recognized by The Best Lawyers in America Ones to Watch for his work in Real Estate Law 2022. 

Mr. Sawyer was named to The Best Lawyers in America 2021: Ones to Watch.