National Opportunity Zones Digital Summit

Since co-founding Peachtree Group in 2007, Greg has successfully overseen investments exceeding $11.0 billion in commercial real estate and various other enterprises. With over 25 years of experience, he brings extensive experience in credit and equity investing, particularly in hotels and other commercial real estate assets. Previously, Greg served as senior vice president of business development for Specialty Finance Group, where he originated more than $2.0 billion of credit transactions. Before that, Greg was vice president of business development for GMAC Commercial Mortgage Asset-Backed Lending Division. During his six-year tenure, he originated, closed and funded more than 300 hospitality FF&E financing transactions with an aggregate capital structure exceeding $10.0 billion. Greg is a graduate of the University of Texas at Austin and is a board member of the American Hotel & Lodging Association. He also serves on the real estate fund advisory board for the Texas McCombs School of Business at the University of Texas at Austin.

Michael Torhan is a Tax Partner in the Real Estate Services Group. He provides tax compliance and consulting services to clients in the real estate, hospitality, and financial services sectors. Michael has extensive tax experience in a wide range of real estate transactions, including joint ventures; formation and operation of private equity funds; real estate acquisitions, dispositions, financings, and refinancings; Section 1031 like-kind exchange transactions; and Section 467 lease agreements. Michael has substantial tax experience with the partnership entity structure, including mergers and acquisitions, joint ventures, disguised sale transactions, income allocations, partner liability allocations, and review and analysis of operating agreements. He has developed complex waterfall and targeted capital allocation models to track and analyze distributions and income allocations. Michael has also been involved with tax compliance and transactional consulting for Real Estate Investment Trusts (“REITs”) including their formation, qualification, operation, and dissolution. He has provided tax advisory services for the structuring of real estate private equity funds in combination with REITs to maximize value for foreign and tax-exempt investors. Additionally, Michael has handled tax controversy matters, including representation of taxpayers before federal, state, and local taxing authorities; settlement negotiations; and protest consultation with the IRS Appeals Office. Michael is actively involved with professional organizations. He also frequently writes for publication on topics such as the issuance of new treasury regulations and tax considerations for real estate private equity funds and REITs.

Matthew concentrates on structuring complex commercial real estate transactions, negotiating and drafting partnership and LLC agreements for equity investments, and forming private equity funds and other joint ventures primarily targeting real estate assets. He works with a broad range of clients spanning REITs, sponsors, developers, investors, private equity funds, institutional investors, financial institutions, and public companies, among others. A core component of Matthew’s real estate private equity practice involves advising on tax issues related to real estate and broader corporate transactions, including qualified opportunity zone investments, tax-free like-kind 1031 exchanges, affordable/low-income housing and historic tax credits, energy credits, and mergers and acquisitions involving corporate and flow-through entities. He has also served as a senior associate in the tax office of a “Big 4” accounting firm.