Craig D. Jeffrey

Firm: RILEY SAFER HOLMES & CANCILA LLP
Location: Chicago - IL

  • 70 W. Madison Street, Suite 2900
    Chicago, Illinois 60602
    USA
  • Tel : 312.471.8735
  • Fax : 312.471.8701

Craig D. Jeffrey is a down to earth, driven, and intuitive problem solver. His genuine desire, empathy, and commitment to help and serve his clients and community stem from his upbringing. His parents focused on education, entrepreneurship, and service. Their efforts inspired him to be an engaged and attentive business lawyer of high personal integrity, who empowers clients large and small.

Craig concentrates his practice on real estate and finance. Specifically, he focuses on land acquisition, disposition, and leasing. He counsels developers, property owners, and tenants in the negotiation and preparation of purchase and sale agreements, operating agreements, easement agreements, and commercial leases. He has worked with many large real estate, private equity, and REIT clients.

He counsels lenders and borrowers on secured and unsecured credit facilities, tax credit transactions, and related opinion matters. He has deep experience with unique collateral such as arts and antiquities. Craig has been involved in projects across the country and has represented clients in a wide range of industries, including higher education, hospitality, food and beverage, among others.

Craig treasures engaging experiences with his wife and sons in his spare time. Whether playing sports in the backyard, exploring the city, or completing an art project, it is time well spent. He is incredibly focused on improving the city of Chicago and supporting its youth and its economic development, devoting substantial time to two non-profits, Quad Communities Development and Chicago Youth Centers.

Experience

Representative Engagements

Real Estate Finance

  • Illinois real estate counsel to a lender in connection with a $300 million credit facility for a bio-energy company.
  • Representation of a lender in connection with real estate aspects of $250 million acquisition and construction credit facilities for a multi-state, four hotel acquisition.
  • Illinois real estate counsel to a borrower in connection with a $55 million credit facility.
  • Representation of a commercial bank as senior lender in connection with an $8 million mortgage loan relating to mixed-use property.
  • Local counsel to privately held portfolio lender with a capital base of more than $4.0 billion in connection with loans secured by a portfolio of commercial properties in Chicago.
  • Counsel to a real estate private equity firm.
  • Local counsel to lender Aareal Bank on several projects ranging from $20 million to in excess of $100 million.
  • Local counsel to lender Aareal Bank on numerous city class A office properties, multi-unit residential and mixed use assets ranging from $20 million to in excess of $100 million.
  • Representation of a lender in connection with new markets tax credit financing for a transportation company.
  • Representation of a lender in connection with a bridge facility for low income housing tax credit and historic tax credit transactions.

Commercial Finance

  • Represent lender in connection with acquisition financing for logistics company.
  • Represent lender in connection with financing of buy-out of equity holders to transfer business to owners.
  • Represent lender in connection with financing of multiple affiliate borrowers in the copper cable and wire manufacturing, resale, and storage business.
  • Represent lender in connection with working capital and permanent financing of protein (meat) processor and distributor.
  • Represent syndication agent in connection with multi-tranche working capital line for manufacturer.
  • Represent lender in connection with syndicated multi-tranche facility for high-end appliance manufacturer.
  • Represent lender in connection with syndicated multi-tranche facility for convenience stores and gas station operators.

Specialty Collateral

  • Represent multiple lenders in connection with revolving lines of credit, acquisition lines, term loans, and other facilities secured by fine art and antiquities.

Acquisition & Disposition

  • Representation of national industry leader in ground lease transactions in connection with its acquisition of approximately 4,000 acres of land in California underneath utility-scale solar photovoltaic projects developed by one of the world’s largest solar power companies, for a total purchase price of approximately $73 million.
  • Representation of a national retail chain in connection with real estate due diligence for a first of its kind REIT conversion.
  • Local counsel to a leading global real estate and investment management firm for the acquisition of property in Illinois.
  • Representation of a publicly traded REIT as capital partner in a joint venture for the acquisition of a multifamily property.
  • Representation of non-traded REIT in disposition and sale of multifamily property in Illinois.
  • National real estate counsel to an international food manufacturer; oversee land acquisition, construction, and office leasing for company headquarters.
  • National real estate counsel (primarily leasing and acquisitions) to a food processing company and handling enterprise with properties in seven states.
  • Representation of a Chicago residential developer in land assemblage in Chicago, IL.
  • Counsel to purchaser of a nine apartment building acquisition in Cook County, IL.
  • Representation of a national fitness center chain in numerous acquisition transactions, including addressing title and easement matters, negotiations and closing for multiple sites in Illinois, Ohio, Indiana, and Michigan.
  • Representation of National-Louis University in review and disposition of real property in several states.

Leasing

  • Representation of a university in connection with a new 30,000 sf campus lease in the New Orleans metro area.
  • Representation of an office tenant in multiple lease and sublease agreements throughout the U.S. and Canada.
  • Representation of an international fresh food manufacturer and restaurant operator in leasing activity in New York and Illinois.
  • Representation of a technology company tenant in a long-term lease of new headquarters in Chicago, IL.
  • Representation of a food processing company in negotiating the lease of its headquarters in Illinois, analysis of all existing leases, and temporary space arrangements.
  • Representation of a retail technology company in retail leases, including flagship locations in New York, San Francisco, and Virginia.

Publications & Presentations

“Real Estate, Construction + Insurance,” (speaker) Chicago State University Rebuilding Chicago Small Businesses Symposium, Chicago, IL (July 8, 2020)

“Real Estate Ethical Dilemmas:  A Practical Approach,” 21st Annual Commercial Real Estate Institute, Practising Law Institute, Chicago, IL (October 24, 2019)

“Craig Jeffrey, Mapping Out Clients’ Customized Solutions in Real Estate, Finance,” (editorial profile) Leading Lawyers Magazine—Real Estate, Construction & Environmental Edition (January 2019)

“Location, Location, Location:  Keys to Selecting the Right Commercial Space,” (moderator) Crain’s Small Business Week, Quad Community Development Corporation, Chicago, IL (May 3, 2018)

“The Truth about Big Law,” University of Iowa College of Law’s Back to Iowa (March 2017)

“Building Your Brand; What Is Your Unique Value?,” The Cook County Bar Association (April 2016)


RILEY SAFER HOLMES & CANCILA LLP

We are a national law firm of litigators, trial lawyers, and transactional attorneys.

Our attorneys are business-minded strategists, who know that any distinction between a legal problem and a business problem dissolves when there is a potential risk to the client’s business. Our attorneys handle a broad range of business and financial matters, navigating complex issues and achieving optimal balance between business objectives and compliance with applicable laws and regulations. As deal closers and business lawyers, our experienced team of finance, real estate, and corporate attorneys have negotiated and closed hundreds of transactions, providing cost-efficient, experienced, and strategic counsel and legal services to global, national, and regional clients.

SERVICE

Representing clients on a pro bono basis, RSHC has helped free wrongfully convicted inmates, obtained clemency for non-violent offenders, protected the rights of asylum seekers, and supported Chicago in its status as a diverse and welcoming “sanctuary city.” The firm also provided training in criminal investigations to the Cook County Public Defender’s Office.

LEADERSHIP

RSHC was recently named a top ranked firm for gender and racial diversity.  We are organically diverse. Forty-eight percent of our attorneys are women and 31 percent are minorities. Among partners, 37 percent are women and 34 percent are minorities. Most notably, Managing Partner Patricia Brown Holmes is the first African-American woman to lead and have her name on the door of a major law firm that is not women- or minority-owned.

We have deep and broad experience dealing with government at many levels. Six of our lawyers have served as Assistant United States Attorneys and others have experience as state court prosecutors. One was an Illinois state judge. Another was First Deputy Chief of Staff and Public Safety for the City of Chicago. Another served as General Counsel to the Governor of Illinois, and Deputy Corporation Counsel in charge of all City of Chicago litigation. We have judiciously exercised the power of the government, and we have defended our clients against it.