Valerie Kelly

Valerie Kelly advises prominent clients on a range of commercial real estate transactions.

Valerie represents private and public commercial real estate investors and developers, office and retail tenants, investment funds, banks, and other financial institutions on all aspects of commercial real estate. Her practice has a particular emphasis on large commercial leases for both landlords and tenants. Clients also frequently turn to Valerie in connection with acquisitions and dispositions of office buildings, apartment complexes, and hotels.

Chambers USA recognizes Valerie’s distinguished practice in the Real Estate (District of Columbia) section as a Band 2 practice, where she is highlighted as a “a great business partner and a super smart attorney” as well as “the go-to person for complex negotiation.” A client further praises her: “Valerie’s deal experience is self-evident when negotiating on behalf of her client in lease negotiations, as her opinions carry significant weight. She's very talented and just has the complete package - smarts, timing and client service.”  Since 2018, Legal 500 has recognized Valerie as a “Next Generation Lawyer.” The publication quotes a client who describes Valerie as “exceptional” and “extremely intelligent and technically skilled.” Valerie has also received Connect Commercial Real Estate’s 2022 Lawyers in Real Estate Award.

Work Highlights

Commercial leasing representations:

• Citadel in connection with a 10 year master-lease of 585,000 square feet of office space at 350 Park Avenue, as well as a master-lease of 390,000 square feet of office space at 40 East 52nd Street.
   
• Olayan America, as landlord, in connection with its approximately 250,000-square-foot anchor tenant lease to Ace American Insurance Company (Chubb) at 550 Madison Avenue, a 41-story landmark postmodern skyscraper designed by Philip Johnson and John Burgee (formerly known as the Sony Tower), in New York City.
   
• RXR Realty in various matters including: with various on-going lease amendments and modifications for their properties at 530 Fifth Avenue, 75 Rockefeller Center, 32 Old Slip, 237 Park Avenue, the Starrett-Lehigh Building, 450 Lexington Avenue, 230 Park Avenue, 1330 Avenue of the Americas and 620 Sixth Avenue.
   
• Hospital for Special Surgery in connection with its 200,000-square-foot lease from Extell Development for a ground up development at 1522 First Avenue for its new headquarters in New York City. The 32-year lease will cover the bottom eight floors and will house physicians’ offices and hospital ancillary services. The tower will encompass an entire block on the east side of First Avenue from 79th to 80th streets and construction is expected to start in 2022. This deal is particularly complex because it involves a ground lease, a fee condominium, construction of a new building, and a leasehold condominium.
   
• Rockwood Capital and Midtown Equities in connection with a 200,000 square foot lease at One Broadway, New York, NY for the New York City headquarters of Fiserv, Inc., a publicly traded fortune 500 company. The deal involved an initial lease and subsequent expansion amendments culminating in a full office-building lease.
   
• Global Holdings in connection with its 95,000-square-foot lease renewal to Foley & Lardner LLP in Georgetown’s Washington Harbour. The Class-A mixed-use development is located on the Potomac River at 3000 K Street NW in Washington, DC.
   
• Broadcast Music, Inc. in connection with its lease at 9420 Wilshire Boulevard, known as the Rolex Building, for its new Los Angeles headquarters.
   
• Jamestown Properties in connection with its 15-year lease renewal with Jones Day for 234,000 rentable square feet for Jones Day’s DC headquarters at America’s Square.
   
• Carr Properties and National Real Estate Advisors in their approximately 510,000-square-foot lease to State Street Corporation for its new global headquarters at One Congress Tower, a planned 43-story office tower that is being developed in Boston through a joint venture between National Real Estate Advisors and Carr Properties.
   
• Evercore in its 350,000-square-foot lease expansion and extension for the firm’s global headquarters at Fisher Brothers’ Park Avenue Plaza in New York City.
   
• Ernst & Young in its 600,000-square-foot lease for its planned headquarters relocation to One Manhattan West in New York City.
   
• Legends (owned by the Yankees and Cowboys) on its lease for the observatory deck at One World Trade Center from a joint venture between The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey and The Durst Organization.

Acquisitions, dispositions, and development:

• Vericast, a subsidiary of MacAndrews & Forbes, in connection with the $38 million sale-leaseback of four industrial properties located in Durham, North Carolina; Salt Lake City, Utah; Mountville, Pennsylvania; and Livonia, Michigan.
   
• Tishman Speyer in its acquisition of 527 West 36th Street in New York City.
   
• Blumenfeld Development Group, on behalf of Mount Sinai, in its acquisition of 432 West 58th Street in New York City for $72 million.
   
• Capital Properties in its sale of Summermill at Falls River, an apartment complex in Raleigh, North Carolina.
   
• Griffith Properties and Fremont Realty Capital in the sale of One East Pratt Street, a 350,000-square-foot, Class-A office building located in Baltimore, Maryland, in one of the largest sale transactions in Baltimore in 2014.
   
• Brookfield Office Properties Inc. in its acquisition of 799 9th Street, NW in Washington, DC, for $106 million.
   
• Capital Properties in its sale to Equity One of the Westwood Complex in Bethesda, Maryland, which consists of 214,767 square feet of retail space, a 211,020-square foot apartment building and a 62-unit assisted-living facility for $140 million.