Biography

Anthony "Tony" Ratner has more than 25 years of real estate industry experience, with a focus on assisting clients in negotiating, obtaining, and documenting the equity and debt financing required for their projects. Tony’s experience includes acquisitions, dispositions, development, joint ventures, financing, and leasing.

He practices in an extensive range of real estate industries including office, industrial, mixed-use, multi-family, retail, and hospitality. Tony’s acquisition and disposition work has included properties with special challenges, such as ground-leased properties, environmentally-impacted properties, and distressed debt. In his leasing practice, he represents both landlords and tenants with respect to office, industrial, and retail properties.

In the development process, Tony’s work spans the full range of financial arrangements required over the several years required to envision, finance, construct, and lease a project. This includes counseling development clients on the negotiation and documentation of acquisition financing, equity financing, construction financing, mezzanine financing, and permanent financing.

For developers, he has also negotiated and drafted joint venture agreements, ground leases, construction agreements, and development and property management agreements. His work in secured financing has involved various complex transactions, including loan workouts, deed-in-lieu transactions, sale-leasebacks, the use of conduit financing in reverse exchange transactions, and the structuring of financing provided by affiliates of equity investors.

Tony’s role in the complex, long-term, and high-stakes process of real property development is that of a pragmatic, highly experienced counselor whose objective is to help his clients successfully complete transactions. By understanding his clients’ objectives, both from a legal and business perspective, he helps them achieve their goals, avoid unnecessary complications and delays, and ultimately, take their concepts vertical.

Recent notable transactions include the representation of major real estate development companies in the: acquisition and equity financing of a Class A office building in San Francisco; the ground lease, development and equity and debt financing of a life sciences campus in Berkeley; the equity and debt financing of a transit-oriented multifamily project in Walnut Creek; and retail leasing matters for a historic office and retail building in San Francisco.

Distinctions

  • Best Lawyers of America, Real Estate Law (2018-2025)
  • Northern California Super Lawyers (2015-2020, 2023-2024)