As the first quarter has come to a close, we wanted to provide a round-up of top news and updates from the first few months of the year. The Pircher team was excited to be able to host our Joint Venture Challenge competition once again, albeit virtually. We also celebrated our latest partner promotion and welcomed a new attorney to the team. Details can be found below.
 
With a strong start to the year, we are optimistic as to what the rest of 2021 will bring. We look forward to connecting and working with you in the months to come—and, hopefully, will be able to see many of you in person soon!
FIRM UPDATES
Pircher Hosts JV Challenge Competition between UC Berkeley and UCLA
Pircher recently completed its annual Real Estate Joint Venture Challenge (JV Challenge), which brought together the law and business students from University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley) and University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) for a virtual competition on Friday, March 5, 2021. 

Both schools had outstanding performances: UC Berkeley had the highest scoring team of the day, and UCLA won the school competition with the highest total score.
Pircher would like to once again thank the participants for their hard work as well as all of those who made the event's first virtual iteration possible, including the professional judges, sponsors, university liaisons and Pircher coaches.
DEAL SPOTLIGHTS
Pircher’s national real estate practice has completed a wide variety of real estate transactions throughout the country in the last quarter. As the market ramps back up, clients have continued to turn to Pircher’s attorneys for counsel and support to close an array of acquisition, sale, financing and joint venture transactions of varying sizes, types and asset classes.
In recent months, Pircher has notably represented:
A lender in connection with a loan in excess of $100 million secured by industrial properties located in Arizona, Colorado and Georgia
A commercial real estate investment firm in the $175 million acquisition of a mixed-use office property in a major West Coast city and related financing
A real estate investment and development firm in the financing of a more than $30 million loan for the purchase of a full-service hotel in downtown Denver
PIRCHER HAPPENINGS
Pircher Promotes Eric Shortz
to Partner

Eric B. Shortz has been an integral member of Pircher's team over the last two decades. His practice focuses on all aspects of transactional real estate, including the representation of borrowers in complex financings. Eric was promoted to partner from his of counsel role in January.

Justin Adofina Joins Pircher as
an Associate

Justin C. Adofina joined the firm as an associate this quarter. A recent UCLA Law graduate, Justin’s previous experience includes serving as a clerk in the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission’s Hearings Unit and the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office.

Upcoming Virtual Events
ULI Spring Meeting

May 10-12, 2021
Online - Digital Experience

In May, the ULI network will be hosting its annual Spring Meeting virtually. The event is set to include discussions on topics such as the post-pandemic economy, urban migration, DEI, climate change and more.
CREFC Annual Conference

June 16-17 2021
Online - Digital Experience

The second of CREFC’s two annual conferences, this year’s June conference programming will address the most relevant topics facing the industry, presented by recognized finance leaders.