Jeffrey Moerdler
Jeff heads our Real Estate and Communications practices in New York and has significant experience
in general commercial real estate law. Jeff’s general real estate practice includes acquisitions, sales,
development, leasing, and borrower’s side financing. He also has a particular focus on real estate
challenges facing communications, technology, and energy companies, and represents property owners
and telecom companies in telecom real estate matters, such as data center leases. Jeff also advises on
the use of EB-5 capital in large-scale real estate transactions. His clients include both large national
companies and smaller, local clients. He is frequently invited to speak on real estate, data center, and
telecom topics. He also writes for several industry publications, and he is regularly quoted in national
media. Jeff was a Commissioner of the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey and led many of its
major real estate and telecom transactions.
Jeff is the head of the Real Estate and Communications practices in New York. With experience
including almost 30 years as a general commercial real estate attorney, he has worked with many large
national companies — particularly in the high-tech, telecommunications, financial services, health care,
supermarket, and oil and gas sectors — as well as numerous smaller local clients.
His real estate practice is both national and local and includes representation of landlords and tenants
in all types of leases; counseling owners and developers in the acquisition, sale, development, and
renovation of property; advising lenders and borrowers in commercial loans; and the representation of
all parties in real estate litigation. He is actively involved in settling real estate, partnership and inter-
family disputes.
During the past 30 years, he has developed a unique specialty practice in the intersection of real estate
with communications, technology and energy issues. He has extensive experience representing
landlords, tenants, and communications service providers in the leasing, purchase, sale, and financing
of data centers, switch facilities, colocation facilities, radio and television broadcast antennas,
distributed and in-building antenna systems, rooftop antennas, and fiber-optic transactions as well as
the wiring of buildings for broadband communications access. Jeff has also negotiated thousands of
data center leases, master services agreements and colocation agreements, rooftop and cellular
antenna leases, inside wiring agreements, and antenna tower leases throughout the country – covering
over 500 million square feet.
He has also devoted a considerable portion of his practice to power and energy issues related to real
estate and other technology matters, including large solar and wind installations and bulk power
purchases. Jeff is also a member of the firm's Not for Profit Practice, Sports & Entertainment Practice
and Israel Practice.
Jeff counsels developers, regional centers, senior lenders, and institutions on the strategic use of EB-5
capital in large-scale real estate transactions. Jeff has served as counsel to several EB-5 issuers and
regional centers, with a specific focus on the real estate law aspects of transactions. Jeff also advises
clients in the EB-5 space on all aspects of deploying capital into projects and has experience as well in
negotiating intercreditor agreements on behalf of senior lenders and EB-5 regional centers.
A frequent speaker on real estate, data center and telecom topics around the country, Jeff has also
written a column called Leasing on the Level, covering leasing topics in Real Estate Weekly. He is a
member of the board of advisors and regular contributor to Commercial Lease Law Insider, Commercial
Tenant’s Lease Insider, and Communications Environmental and Land Use Law Report. In addition, he
frequently contributes to Mortgage and Real Estate Executives Report and is regularly quoted in the
New York Times, the Wall Street Journal, Commercial Property News, Real Estate Weekly, and other
publications.
In the past, he has served in numerous governmental positions, including as a Commissioner of the Port
Authority of New York and New Jersey (including serving as the lead board member on many large
public private partnerships and real estate transactions), a member of the New York State Banking
Board, a member of the New York State Financial Control Board, a member of the Departmental
Disciplinary Committee of the Appellate Division of the First Department of the New York State Supreme
Court, Assistant to the First Deputy Mayor of the City of New York and assistant to the Deputy Borough
President of the Borough of Manhattan. From 1981 to 1982, he served as a law clerk to the Honorable
Charles L. Brieant, US District Judge, and later Chief Judge, for the Southern District of New York.
Jeff is also an emergency medical technician on his local volunteer ambulance and coordinator of his
local chapter.
Mintz
Member