Manuel A. Fernandez and Alberto J. Delgado Bring National Real Estate Transactions Practice
McCarter & English today announced that real estate transaction attorneys Manuel A. Fernandez and Alberto J. Delgado have joined the firm as partners in its Real Estate Practice Group. Based in the Miami office, Fernandez, Delgado, and their highly experienced real estate transactions team will advise clients on commercial real estate acquisitions and dispositions, commercial leases, transactions involving distressed real estate assets and loans, and real estate joint ventures.
Fernandez and Delgado joined McCarter from Miami-based corporate boutique firm Alvarez & Diaz-Silveira LLP, where they were partners leading the Real Estate Transactions group. Both are nationally recognized attorneys with extensive experience representing developers, family offices, lenders, and other real estate investors in a wide array of real estate matters. Fernandez and Delgado have worked together for most of the past 20 years at prior firms, beginning at Stroock & Stroock & Lavan LLP, where Fernandez was the managing partner of the Miami office, ran a team that closed hundreds of CMBS mortgage loans every year, and represented pension funds and other investment funds in real estate joint venture transactions.
Joining Fernandez and Delgado from Alvarez & Diaz-Silveira are Gaston Fontela, associate, who has more than a decade of experience practicing corporate and real estate law; Marlene James, paralegal, who has worked with Fernandez and Delgado since 2012; and Kirenia Zorrilla, the team’s longtime legal assistant.
“Manny and Albert are skilled real estate attorneys with an extraordinary scope of practice and top-tier clients in high-growth markets,” said McCarter Real Estate Partner Jeffrey A. Petit, who has previously worked with Fernandez and Delgado. “We are thrilled their team has joined us. Their extensive real estate finance and transactional experience will be an asset to our clients.”
Fernandez is a leading real estate transactional attorney with more than three decades in practice. He represents clients in high-profile CRE acquisitions of retail, office, industrial, multifamily residential, and hotel properties across the country. He has been involved in some of Florida’s largest real estate transactions, including the representation of the buyer in the $517 million purchase of the Southeast Financial Center in Miami, the largest single-building transaction completed in Miami at the time. In addition, he advises institutional and non-institutional investors in the acquisition, financing, and management of real estate portfolios and the negotiation of real estate joint ventures. Over the past two years, Fernandez has represented a family office in the acquisition of more than $2 billion worth of industrial, office, and multifamily properties throughout the United States and in Canada. Fernandez is also recognized for his broad level of experience in real estate finance matters, particularly his leadership representing both borrowers and lenders in closing tens of billions of dollars of CMBS mortgage loans since the 1990s. A frequent speaker, including at events hosted by the American College of Real Estate Lawyers and the Florida Bar Association, he is a thought leader on unique, cutting-edge capital structures, ground leases, and the negotiation of intercreditor agreements.
Delgado, who has practiced for more than 20 years, represents clients in complex retail, office, industrial, residential, and mixed-use real estate transactions. He also has extensive experience representing institutional and private real estate lenders in the origination and modification of a wide range of financing structures and in pursuing resolutions for distressed assets. In addition to his work with Fernandez on many notable transactions, Delgado has represented numerous developers, joint ventures, investors and lenders in financing transactions and acquisitions of prime commercial properties in Florida, throughout the southern United States, and in New York.
“McCarter has an exceptional real estate group, and the firm’s national offices and broad practice capabilities will enable us to deepen existing client relationships and further develop the firm’s client base,” Fernandez said. “Our team works with clients in Florida and across the country, including major developers and investors based in New York, who can now benefit from having the services of a top-notch full-service law firm available to them.”
Fernandez received his J.D. and B.A. from the University of Miami, Coral Gables, Florida. Delgado earned his J.D. from the University of Florida’s Fredric G. Levin College of Law in Gainesville, Florida, and his B.S. from Florida International University in Miami. Both are Cuban Americans.
“We are delighted to welcome Manny, Albert, and their skilled team to our real estate practice,” said Joe Boccassini, McCarter’s Firmwide Managing Partner. “The addition of Manny and Albert underscores our commitment to growing our national real estate practice and our Miami presence.”
McCarter opened its growing Miami office in November 2021. McCarter’s Miami-based attorneys assist clients in a range of areas, including business litigation, products liability, government affairs, real estate, and land use and zoning matters.