Andrea Saunders Rifenbark

Andrea Saunders Rifenbark is a transactional attorney who focuses on real estate investment, development, and finance.  

Andrea has spent her entire career representing public pension funds and other institutional investors in all areas of real estate investments, including acquisitions, dispositions, joint ventures, financing, property management, development, and investment advisory agreements.  In her practice, Andrea structures, negotiates, and documents all types of real estate acquisitions and dispositions of all product types, including retail, office, industrial, mixed-use, healthcare, and hospitality, and including multi-state and multi-property transactions.  Andrea also analyzes, structures, negotiates and documents a wide range of joint venture transactions, including separate accounts, platform joint ventures, single asset ventures, and development projects.  She has extensive experience in structuring and implementing joint ventures in domestic as well as international markets.  Andrea’s wide-ranging experience representing institutional investors in numerous aspects of their real estate investments enables her to be sensitive to their unique issues, as she understands their perceptions, anticipates their concerns, and implements their guidelines and policies.  

Domestic and International Joint Ventures  

Andrea’s practice has a specific focus on a wide range of complex joint venture transactions including those relating to the acquisition, ownership, and development of all types of real estate assets such as office buildings, industrial parks, student housing, medical facilities, raw land, retail centers, multifamily, single-family housing, and mixed-use projects. 

Andrea has extensive experience in structuring and implementing joint ventures in domestic as well as international markets such as Brazil, Canada, Japan, Australia, Luxembourg, Germany, and other countries across Europe.  In addition to negotiating and documenting the joint venture agreements, many transactions involve the analysis of the legal and tax implications of potential proposed structures for holding title to real estate in the relevant foreign jurisdiction, as well as the evaluation and negotiation of complex legal and tax opinions pertaining to the international corporate and tax aspects of the transaction.  Through her extensive experience in international investments, Andrea has established relationships with a network of local legal, tax and accounting professional in selected foreign jurisdictions that enable her to advise institutional clients in all aspects of these investments. Andrea also routinely stays involved in the ongoing business and operations of the joint ventures she has helped establish including developing, effecting and documenting joint venture workouts and restructures.  

Acquisitions, Dispositions, Development and Management  

Andrea efficiently structures, negotiates, and documents all types of real estate acquisitions and dispositions including office, industrial, multifamily, retail, mixed-use and residential properties. She handles all aspects of purchase and sale transactions including in-depth title and survey and other due diligence review and analysis, transfer tax planning and loan assumptions.  Andrea frequently oversees the acquisition and disposition of portfolios of assets as well as individual properties and has worked on transactions involving assets in virtually every state. She also has considerable experience in the purchase and sale of membership and partnership interests and ground leased properties as well as in analyzing investments in other co-investment vehicles.  In addition, Andrea drafts and negotiates development management agreements, property management agreements and other service agreements.  

Advising Clients From A To Z  

Andrea's extensive knowledge encompasses a broad range of sophisticated commercial real estate transactions from entity selection and formation and due diligence review to the negotiation and documentation of complex business, economic and legal concepts.  She considers all perspectives of a transaction – the legal, practical and client's unique view – to devise the most effective and efficient strategy to successfully negotiate and complete transactions, and to help her clients meet all real estate needs.   Clients routinely call on Andrea not only to provide sound advice on complex legal matters but to help them formulate and execute strategies to address priorities and goals.