Jennifer A. Wieclaw

Partner

  • Jennifer A. Wieclaw
  • Phone: +1 215 979 1831

    Jennifer A. Wieclaw - LinkedIn Import to Address Book

  • Duane Morris LLP
    30 South 17th Street
    Philadelphia, PA 19103-4196
    USA
  • Duane Morris LLP
    625 Liberty Avenue, Suite 1000
    Pittsburgh, PA 15222-3112
    USA

Jennifer A. Wieclaw concentrates her practice in the area of real estate law. Ms. Wieclaw has a broad transactional practice counseling clients with respect to commercial acquisitions and dispositions, financings and workouts, leasing and joint ventures, including for clients with properties in multiple states. Ms. Wieclaw has represented clients with respect to a variety of asset classes, including office, industrial, marinas and multi-family residential.

Ms. Wieclaw serves as a representative to the Duane Morris Recruitment and Retention Committee.

Ms. Wieclaw is a 2001 graduate, with honors, of the George Washington University Law School, where she was a member of the George Washington Law Review, and a magna cum laude graduate of Dickinson College.

Representative Matters

  • Represented American Racing and Entertainment, the owner and operator of Tioga Downs Casino Resort and Vernon Downs Casino Hotel, in its $175 million sale and leaseback of the real estate assets of Tioga Downs to Gaming and Leisure Properties, Inc. (NASDAQ: GLPI), a real estate investment trust focused on owning real estate property that is leased to gaming operators.

  • Represented a national marina owner and operator in connection with leases of marina properties from governmental agencies.

  • Represented the operator of nursing homes in connection with the lease of a portfolio of 18 nursing homes in Pennsylvania.

  • Represented tenants in lease negotiations for general office, medical office, laboratory, manufacturing, and warehouse and distribution space ranging from approximately 3,000 square feet to 181,000 square feet.

  • Represented a pension fund in the simultaneous acquisition of three multifamily residential properties in Florida with aggregate value of approximately $200 million.

  • Represented a pension fund in connection with its $62 million acquisition and financing of a multifamily residential property in Florida. 

  • Represented Laguna Development Corporation, a federally chartered corporation formed by the Pueblo of Laguna Tribe in New Mexico, in its $134.5 million acquisition of the Isle of Capri Casino and Hotel in Lake Charles, Louisiana.

  • Represented Shelbourne Capital LLC in its new joint venture with Red Lion Hotels Corporation, a Spokane, Washington-based public company, involving the acquisition, equity and debt financing, and a capital improvement program for twelve hotels located in Washington, California, Oregon, Idaho, and Utah.

  • Closed on the purchase of a twenty-three-property portfolio in Lakewood, Colorado for a purchase price of $104 million. The properties consisted of twenty-one office buildings and two development parcels. In conjunction with the purchase, we closed a $79.5 million purchase money mortgage loan to our client from AXA Equitable Life Insurance Company.

  • Represented a publicly-traded wholesale motor fuel distributor in connection with a syndicated credit facility of up to $324 million.

  • Represented an American petroleum and petrochemical manufacturer in documenting the transfer of an industrial complex to subsidiaries for $60 million.

  • Represented a joint venture purchasing foreclosed homes in a $24 million loan secured by a portfolio of approximately 1,300 single-family homes.

  • Represented a nonprofit organization in the simultaneous divestiture of six of its seven skilled-nursing facilities, plus a HUD housing facility and a senior-housing facility, to two separate for-profit purchasers for an aggregate purchase price of $83 million.

  • Represented the borrower in a $125 million syndicated credit facility secured by 187 service stations in four states.

  • Represented the borrower in a $37.5 million syndicated credit facility for the acquisition of 34 service stations.

  • Represented the borrower in a syndicated credit facility in excess of $50 million for the acquisition of 85 service stations in two states, along with subordinate purchase money financing in excess of $12 million.

  • Represented an affiliate of New Jersey-based Four Springs Capital Trust, a newly formed real estate investment trust, in its purchase of a 14,560-square foot Walgreens in Greenville, North Carolina for $5.625 million. The single-tenant, net-leased transaction included an assumption of the existing commercial mortgage-backed security (CMBS) loan.

  • Represented one of the secured lenders in the General Growth Properties bankruptcy in the modification of loans totaling in excess of $365 million secured by six shopping centers.

  • Represented lender in connection with the restructuring of loans in excess of $82 million to a residential real estate developer secured by nine residential developments.

  • Represented the purchaser of a biofuels plant through a Section 363 sale.

  • Represented a residential real estate developer in connection with construction loans ranging from $2.2 million to $94.8 million.

  • Represented a hotel owner/operator in connection with construction loans in excess of $22 million.

Admissions

  • Pennsylvania
  • U.S. District Court for the Western District of Pennsylvania

Education

  • The George Washington University Law School, J.D., with honors, 2001
    Member, The George Washington Law Review
  • Dickinson College, B.A., magna cum laude, 1998

Experience

  • Duane Morris LLP
    - Partner, 2016-present
    - Special Counsel, 2011-2015
    - Associate, 2005-2011
  • Spector Gadon & Rosen, P.C.
    - Associate, 2004-2005
  • Reed Smith LLP
    - Associate, 2001-2002

Professional Activities

  • American Bar Association
  • Pennsylvania Bar Association

Civic and Charitable Activities

  • Northern Children's Services
    - Board of Trustees

Honors and Awards

  • Pennsylvania Rising Star, 2012-2016

Selected Publications

  • Co-Author, "Title Policies," Common Ground, Issues 2 and 3, 2005
  • Author, "Waiver by Another Name: The Law of the Case," 69 Geo. Wash. L. Rev. 538, 2001

Selected Speaking Engagements

  • Moderator, "Road to Recovery: What's Next for CMBS Portfolios," iGlobal Global Leaders in Real Estate Summit, October 22, 2020