Mark Frimmel is Of Counsel to Abrams Fensterman and a member of the firm’s Real Estate Practice and Corporate and Securities groups. He provides advice and counsel to his broad-based clientele in connection with complex real estate acquisitions and development projects as well as in the sale of commercial, industrial and residential buildings.
In addition, Mark represents landlords and tenants in retail, hospitality, office, health care and industrial leases. Likewise, he advises lenders and borrowers in commercial and residential financing transactions, including mortgage loans, HUD insured health care mortgage loans, lines of credit and mezzanine loans. Mark also acts on behalf of lenders and borrowers in mortgage work out agreements.
Mark has significant experience in the representation of cooperative and condominium housing associations, and he counsels debtors and creditors in Chapter 7, 11 and 13 bankruptcy proceedings. As for the latter, Mark has advised Chapter 7 Panel Trustees in asset recovery actions, adversary proceedings and other contested matters.
Mark was selected as one of Metropolitan New York Super Lawyers in 2015, 2016, 2017 and 2018.
Mark was formerly Of Counsel to the Real Estate Board of New York Subcommittee on Existing Housing, as well as a Hearing Officer for the County of Nassau, Small Claims Assessment Review. He additionally served as a panelist in Fundamentals of Bankruptcy Law, at the Nassau Academy of Law, and was a member of the Nassau County Volunteer Lawyers Project screening potential Chapter 7 bankruptcy filers and filing bankruptcy petitions for accepted individuals. While serving on the Real Property Law Committee of the New York City Bar Association, Mark created the CLE program “The Basics of Representing a Commercial Mortgage Borrower” which was presented in 2018 – 2020.
Finally, he enjoys a subspecialty representing thoroughbred racehorse owners in all aspects of the horse racing industry. In fact, some of his clients own Kentucky Derby, Preakness and Breeders Cup winning horses.
Representative Matters
- Acquisition: Represented a pair of limited liability companies in their purchase of a 320- bed nursing home located in Brooklyn, New York, and then again in connection with an associated $56.5M first mortgage loan and a $4.85M second mortgage loan made by a syndicate of banks led by Bank of America, N.A. and Israel Discount Bank of New York.
- Acquisition: Closed a leveraged buyout of a 499-bed nursing home in Manhattan (Dewitt Rehab) for $105M, including a $90M bridge to HUD from KeyBank. The property is located on the Upper East Side of Manhattan and has always been looked upon as the most significant site in Manhattan available for eventual redevelopment into condominiums.
- Commercial Financing: Represented a lender in connection with a $27M mortgage loan to a 625-unit residential cooperative building in the city of New York.
- Commercial Real Estate: Represented the purchaser in connection with the $54M acquisition of land improved by a 280-bed nursing home in Suffolk County, New York.
- Commercial Leasing: Represented the landlord in connection with a 25,000 square foot lease in New Jersey for a service and parts center for the manufacturer of electric cars.
- Commercial Leasing: Represented Sub-Sublandlord in connection with the sub-subleasing of 55,758 square feet of office space in Manhattan in a transaction with an aggregate rent in excess of $20,000,000.00.
- Commercial Leasing: Represented the tenant, a major Hollywood film studio, in connection with their leasing of 3 film production stages, 30,000 square feet of office space and 15,000 square feet of shop space at a film production complex being constructed in Yonkers, New York with an aggregate rent in excess of $33,000,000.00.
- Commercial Leasing: Represented the landlord, a religious institution, in connection with the leasing of a building and access easements for a photographic gallery, dining and café space in Manhattan.
- Commercial Real Estate: Represented the seller in connection with the sale of a of a state of the art equine veterinary hospital in Nassau County, New York.
- Credit Facility: Structured and closed a $13M credit facility for a large emergency and inpatient medical group. The complex and challenging transaction involved thirty-three separate entities, four different banks, across seven states, and the avoidance of a potential $100,000.00 contractual penalty.
- Rehabilitation Facility – Sale: Closed the sale of two nursing homes in New York for the combined sale price of approximately $93M. This was a complex deal that included escrowing the proceeds of the real estate portion of the transaction into a qualified intermediary for the upcoming purchase of two newer Brooklyn nursing homes, and was the last of three associated deals, one of which involved a very complicated 1031 tax free exchange for the combined sale price in the neighborhood of $129M.
- Rehabilitation Facility – HUD Refinance: Closed the largest HUD-insured loan ever on a single building in the United States. The loan, having a principal amount of approximately $127M, was in connection with the refinancing of health care facility in New York City. Notably, the refinance transaction was threatened at the 11th hour given a Certificate of Occupancy issue. Nevertheless, after days of diligent research and negotiation by our attorneys, the matter was resolved and the closing was able to proceed as scheduled.
- Structured Financing: Represented a leading aviation services platform and top ten charter operator in a refinancing transaction resulting in it raising $60M in equity and debt to fund a number of strategic initiatives.
Bar Admissions
- State Bar of New York
- U.S. District Court Eastern District of New York
- U.S. District Court Southern District of New York
- U.S. Supreme Court
Education
- Fordham University School of Law, J.D.
- Recipient of the American Jurisprudence Award for Civil Procedure
- Stony Brook University, B.A.
Speaking Engagements
- The Basics of Representing a Commercial Mortgage Borrower, New York City Bar Association, New York, NY, August 5, 2020, Panelist
- The Basics of Representing a Commercial Mortgage Borrower, New York City Bar Association, New York, NY, August 6, 2019, Program Co-Chair and Panelist
- The Basics of Representing a Commercial Mortgage Borrower, New York City Bar Association, New York, NY, August 2, 2018, Program Co-Chair and Panelist
Professional Associations and Memberships
- New York State Bar Association, Member
Media Mentions
- Bronx nursing home lands first HUD-insured loan for $104M, Real Estate Weekly, June 26, 2019
- Big Bronx SNF Gets Big HUD Financing, Senior Care Investor, June 24, 2019
- M&R in the News, Business Insider, Erie News Now, Business Aviation and Corporate Jet Investor, February 27, 2019
- Largest nursing home finance deal closes on Upper East Side, Real Estate Weekly, June 7, 2018