Skip to Content

John T. Curran is a partner in the firm's Banking and Financial Services department, representing lenders in all phases of secured financial transactions and has broad and extensive experience in financing multi-family housing, mixed-use properties, commercial office buildings, and shopping centers. John’s expertise extends to construction lending of similar properties, transactions with derivative components (e.g., swaps and caps) as well as non-traditional areas such as credit support documents for letters of credit. John has led major institutions in transactions and closings throughout New York and approximately 20 other states across the country. His experience extends to commercial condominiums, condops, and leasehold estates as well as to non-real estate lending (such as co-op secured transactions). He has guided major financial institutions in establishing full-service real estate lending programs in various regions across the country, in places such as Florida, the midwest and the west coast (California), acting as a liaison between the local counsel and the firm’s lending clients.

In addition to his transactional practice, John provides the firm’s lending clients with comprehensive, detailed advice on commercial loan documentation (including commitment letters, notes, and mortgages) and all types of credit supporting documentation, such as guarantees and environmental indemnities. With a career spanning many decades which have seen several turns of the real estate cycle, John’s background includes broad and significant experience in loan workouts and restructurings, mortgage foreclosures, and mortgage enforcement, having represented numerous lenders in matters involving note sales, deeds-in-lieu of foreclosure, short sales, and REO sales (individual and bulk). John’s widespread experience with distressed loans provides the Firm with a unique and comprehensive perspective on loan documentation and necessary provisions to protect lenders and facilitate asset recovery or asset transfers.

John has guided the Firm’s lending clients through many asset purchases and asset sales. He has assembled and guided teams reviewing loan packages for purchase as well as reviewing, analyzing, and providing guidance on loan sales, including sales of loans intended for further securitization in the capital markets for inclusion in CMBS sales. John regularly represents clients in the sale and purchase of participations.

Throughout his career, John has litigated many cases on behalf of the firm's banking clients, including title claims, account disputes, receivership matters, landlord-tenant disputes, and contract disputes. His experience extends to the appellate level, and he has successfully represented numerous clients in state and federal appeals.

Practice Areas

Industries

Admissions

  • Florida (Inactive)
  • New York
  • U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit
  • U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York
  • U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York

Education

  • J.D., St. John’s University School of Law, 1982
  • B.A., Hamilton College, magna cum laude, 1976

Representative Experience

  • Guided a major lender in the transfer of loans to a CMBS pool (approximately $1.1BB in loan assets), providing advice to CMBS counsel on loan practices and loan covenants included in the transferred assets.
  • Represented community lender in the acquisition of packages of loans for a portfolio.
  • Provided re-written, new loan documentation for major regional lender, forms on which tens of billions of loan transactions have been written.
  • Completed a UCC enforcement sale (auction) of loan collateral security consisting of proprietary leases for 89 Manhattan residential cooperative apartments; resulting in near total asset recovery for the lender.
  • Guided major regional lender in successfully establishing a real estate lending program in California, leading to approximately $1.5BB in real estate loan originations.
  • Spearheaded a successful effort by a non-Florida lender in establishing full service (secured real estate) lending arms in Florida and Chicago, leading to extensive lending activity in those areas as well as throughout the United States, with billions of dollars of loans originated.

Professional and Community Activities

  • Lecturer, October 2018, on recent developments in Rent Regulations and Tax Abatements and their potential effect on lenders
  • Guest speaker, continuing legal education (CLE) panels on the topics of mortgages and mortgage foreclosures.