Experienced Business Strategist, Longtime General Counsel Brings Over Two Decades of Experience in Corporate Governance, Capital Markets, Transactions, and Regulatory Compliance to Firm
McCarter & English today announced the addition of partner Robert P. Demchak to its Real Estate Practice Group in its Indianapolis and New York offices. A longtime executive vice president, general counsel, and corporate secretary of Washington Prime Group (WPG), a significant retail real estate company and former public company REIT, Demchak will focus on expanding McCarter’s real estate practice in his areas of greatest experience, including corporate governance, capital markets, real estate transactions, and regulatory compliance.
“It’s fair to say that Robert has handled virtually every type of real estate financing transaction that any major company might contemplate,” said McCarter Real Estate Co-Chair Simone Wilson-Brito. “We are fortunate he has chosen to join McCarter, and we know clients will benefit from his experience and business acumen.”
Demchak’s return to private practice reunites him with his former Simon Property Group colleague James Barkley, who joined McCarter’s Indianapolis office in July and was General Counsel of Simon while Demchak was vice president of the company’s Capital Markets Group.
“McCarter’s strong real estate and corporate practices, coupled with its significant presence in the Northeast where I have extensive business contacts, is what really drew me to the firm,” Demchak said. “I look forward to working with Jim again, building on our national REIT and overall real estate experience and helping the firm broaden its Midwest presence.”
Demchak built the legal infrastructure of WPG from the ground up over the past decade. As the first employee and lead developer of the company’s governance and compliance functions, he led the transition team in accomplishing WPG’s spin-off from Simon Property Group in 2014. His accomplishments include negotiating a $4.3B merger between WPG and Glimcher Realty Trust; negotiating $340M and $600M joint venture transactions involving 15 large retail assets; closing on unsecured term loans for $500M and $340M, as well as $750M and $250M unsecured bond offerings; refinancing over $1B of mortgage debt, restructuring more than $300M of mortgage loans and approximately $200M of discounted payoffs; leading corporate restructuring and implementation of the plan of reorganization with outside counsel, including WPG’s transition from a public to a private company; and driving sustainability by negotiating 25-year power structure purchase agreements with utility companies.
Prior to joining WPG, Demchak was senior vice president of the Capital Markets Group at Simon Property Group, Inc., in both Indianapolis and New York City. At Simon, he led projects involving the disposition of assets, acquisition of approximately $440M of subordinate debt, and restructuring or settling over $3B of existing mortgage debt.
Before Simon Property Group, Demchak was a real estate attorney in the Fixed Income Group at Morgan Stanley Mortgage Capital Holdings in New York City. At Morgan Stanley, he structured and closed more than $4B in complex fixed and floating rate commercial mortgage and mezzanine loan transactions, restructured debt for nonperforming commercial mortgage loans, and negotiated intercreditor agreements, PSAs for commercial mortgage loan pools, loan applications, whole loans, B notes, mezzanine loans, and participation interests. Prior to Morgan Stanley, Demchak was an associate attorney for approximately eight years in private practice in New York City.
“We are delighted to welcome Robert to our real estate practice,” said Joe Boccassini, McCarter’s Firmwide Managing Partner. “Over the last 20 years, Robert has helped navigate some of the most sophisticated commercial real estate transactions in the country, and returns to private practice with a wealth of knowledge and experience in real estate finance, debt restructuring, and beyond. He will be an exceptional asset for our clients.”
The Indiana office of McCarter opened in May 2022 when a group of litigators moved their practice over from another firm. “The addition of Rob further underscores McCarter’s commitment to growing Indiana to be a full-service office. Rob Demchak and Jim Barkley together will be indispensable to building out our capabilities in the Midwest,” said Amy Fisher, co-Managing Partner of the Indianapolis office, which will be moving in December to its permanent location at the new Lauth 1st on Main property in Carmel, Ind.
Demchak received his J.D. from St. John’s University School of Law in Queens, N.Y. He received his B.A. in psychology, with a minor in Business Administration, from the State University of New York at Albany. Rob is currently admitted only in New York.