In its August 14, 2013, edition, the Daily Journal honored Manatt partner Timi A. Hallem, co-chair of the firm's Hospitality group, as one of California's Top Real Estate Lawyers for 2013. Hallem was one of only 30 lawyers statewide named to the prestigious list.
In a feature story on Hallem, the Daily Journal reports that she oversaw the $220 million financing of Terranea Resort, a 580-room hotel overlooking the Pacific Ocean. Before her client Lowe Enterprises developed the property, the abandoned water park sat vacant for years.
In the last year she has handled several major hotel developments, including the acquisition of the Ritz-Carlton at Lake Tahoe. Hallem helped client Kennedy Wilson negotiate the purchase of the five-star hotel developed on the Northstar ski slope resort.
"That was a fun deal because it was a great client," Hallem told the Daily Journal. "It was a complicated project in which the hotel was being bought from a consortium of four lenders. And it was in a very compressed time frame. It took seven weeks from buyer intent to closing."
Hallem also represented Lowe in negotiations with Orange County to develop a 100-acre parcel of largely vacant land formerly occupied by the El Toro Marine Base in Irvine. She was part of the team that responded to the county's request for proposals, and after her client was selected in July 2012, she negotiated the agreements with the county for the mixed-use project.
Hallem said that, early in her legal career, she was assigned to work on real estate issues and "fell in love with it from there."
"I love the fact that you are creating something, helping people build something they want to build," Hallem told the newspaper. "You're often taking abandoned or underutilized property and helping your client create something out of nothing really."