Jeff Williams has an extensive background in complex business transactions, with an emphasis on real estate, finance, and emerging businesses. He has closed a steady stream of real estate and business transactions over the last 20+ years, representing developers, landlords, tenants, entrepreneurs, and health care companies. Recent highlights include serving as lead counsel on four of “top ten DFW real estate deals of the year”. Jeff also represented the seller in the largest downtown/Uptown Dallas real estate sale of the year in 2020. Jeff’s clients include Billingsley Companies (DFW's largest landlord), United Surgical Partners/Tenet Healthcare, RED Development, Cipriani, State Farm’s real estate investment arm, Mutual of Omaha, Ryan Companies, and Klyde Warren Park.

Other representative experience:

Sales/Dispositions

• Represented Seller/Developer in sale of The Union- Dallas (publicly-reported price $370MM+)
• Represented Seller/Developer in sale of The Christopher multifamily tower (publicly-reported price of $172MM)
• Represented Seller in sale of SummitWoods Crossing, an 87-acre regional shopping center in suburban Kansas City, Missouri
• Represented Seller in sale of One Pacific Place shopping center in Omaha, Nebraska
• Represented Seller in sale of 600,000sf industrial portfolio to TPG Real Estate Partners
• Represented Seller in the various sales of land to Meritage Homes, Amalgamated Properties, Green Brick Partners, and others
• Represented Seller in sale of LA Fitness site

Development Projects

• Ongoing representation of Ryan Companies with respect to its development of a 24-story Class AA tower in Legacy West
• Ongoing representation of Mutual of Omaha with respect to development of new corporate headquarters tower
• Ongoing representation of Lanoha Real Estate Company with respect to its development of Newpark Dallas mixed-use project of regional significance
• Represented Landlord/Developer of a medical facility in leases with Baylor Scott & White Health and in the subsequent sale of the facility to Welltower REIT
• Represented Landlord/Developer in build-to-suit industrial facility for Interceramic, Inc.
• Represented Landlord/Developer in two new build-to-suit corporate headquarters buildings for Zale Delaware, Inc.

Acquisitions

• Represented Purchaser in acquisition of 200+ acre development site from The Howard Hughes Corporation
• Represented Compass Datacenters in its acquisitions of development sites in Texas, Tennessee, Virginia, North Carolina, Minnesota, and Ohio
• Ongoing representation of Tenet Healthcare and its subsidiaries in acquisition of sites for development of surgery centers and medical office buildings

Leasing - Landlord Representation

• Represented Landlord in Dallas headquarters lease for salesforce.com
• Represented Landlord/Developer in build-to-suit corporate headquarters for CoreLogic
• Represented Landlord/Developer in two build-to-suit corporate headquarters buildings for Nokia
• Represented Landlord/Developer in negotiation of build-to-suit corporate headquarters for Brinker International
• Represented Landlord in lease of significant corporate space to subsidiary of Alphabet/Google
• Represented Landlord/Developer in build-to-suit corporate headquarters for Nationstar Mortgage LLC (now known as Mr. Cooper)
• Represented Landlord/Developer in development and leasing of single-tenant corporate headquarters for At Home
• Represented Landlord in leasing of facility to UT Southwestern Medical Center
• Represented Landlord in leasing of first DFW location for Green Acres Nursery & Supply
• Represented Landlord/Developer in construction and leasing of approximately 300,000sf industrial facility to Zuri Furniture
• Represented Landlord/Developer in build-to-suit corporate headquarters for Workplace Resource Group
• Represented Landlord/Developer in build-to-suit corporate office for Sanyo Energy (U.S.A.) Corporation
• Represented Landlord in regional headquarters lease for The Options Clearing Corporation

Leasing - Tenant Representation

• Represented Cipriani in two marquee restaurant leases at Grand Central Terminal in New York City
• Represented Cipriani in its restaurant lease at Wynn Las Vegas
• Represented drybar in negotiating 45+ retail leases in New York, Los Angeles, Las Vegas, San Francisco, Houston, Chicago, Washington DC, and other major cities across the country

Real Estate Finance

• Represented Borrowers in dozens of mortgage financing transactions (both construction and long-term take-out financing) with institutional lenders such as Nationwide Life Insurance Company, Hartford Life Insurance Company, Frost Bank, Lincoln National Life Insurance Company, and State Farm Life Insurance Company

Emerging Business

• Represented Drybar Holdings LLC, beginning with its initial formation, business plan, friends-and-family capital raise rounds, franchise system launch, and then through its first institutional capital partner transaction; drybar sold its product line in 2020 to Helen of Troy for a publicly-reported price of $250MM+

Outside the law firm, Jeff was the Vice Chairman of the Board of SP Bancorp, Inc. (NASDAQ: SPBC), was the chair of its Nominating & Corporate Governance Committee, and a member of its Credit Policy and Compensation Committees. He played a central role in the sale of the bank for 3x its IPO price. From 2008 through 2019, Jeff also worked in a consulting capacity with international financial institutions and real estate developers, advising his clients on land use strategy and asset management of their significant real estate assets in Las Vegas. This work included securing land use permits for over 20,000 hotel rooms and millions of square feet of related commercial and hospitality uses. Along with a partner and co-investor, Jeff has invested, directly or indirectly, in a number of emerging businesses, including drybar, AnthemIQ, Squeeze, Fresa’s, Hi+Lo Liquor, Waffle Waffle (Happi Foodi), Rumble Fitness, Malibu Poke, washlava, Holy Kombucha, Brightside, and OK Humans.

If you’ve read this far in the biography, you’re probably game for a few irrelevant facts/stories. During law school in Washington, D.C., Jeff attended the Clinton v. Jones (520 U.S. 681) oral argument in person at the United States Supreme Court on January 13, 1997, although it is unclear if his presence affected the outcome. His law school mistakenly double-paid the registration fee to a national First Amendment Constitutional Law Moot Court competition, so they asked Jeff to coach two separate teams for the same competition in 1998. This required months of preparation behind a bizarre conflict-wall structure, where the teams were not informed of each other’s identity prior to the actual competition, to avoid any possible advantage from practicing against each other. But, the effort was worthwhile. Out of 50+ schools in the competition, the two Georgetown teams coached by Jeff finished first and second. Since that fateful day, Jeff has been unsuccessful in convincing friends, colleagues, and annoyed strangers that this feat is on par with the 1972 Miami Dolphins or the 1995 – 1998 Chicago Bulls. The struggle continues.

Although not relevant here, Jeff is always keen to point out that he once managed a gourmet kosher restaurant in Chicago. He is currently a duly-appointed Kentucky Colonel (as are several of his law firm partners) and a miserable golfer. Finally, he is deeply uncomfortable writing about himself in the third person.