Kenneth T. Bills

Bar Admissions

• New Jersey, 1979
• U.S. District Court, District of New Jersey, 1979
• U.S. Court of Appeals, Third Circuit, 1981

Representative Matters

• Represented Veris Residential, Inc. on the $346 million sale of 101 Hudson Street, one of Jersey City’s premiere commercial buildings, as a key element of the company’s strategic office disposition plan. The sale was the largest office transaction in New Jersey in 2022 and was honored as the 2023 “Office Deal of the Year” by NAIOP New Jersey.
• Advised Avis Budget Group on the relocation and acquisition of its global headquarters in Parsippany. Structured to allow Avis to own, rather than lease, a four-story office condominium unit, providing long-term operational flexibility, the deal was recognized by NAIOP New Jersey as a finalist for 2023 “Deal of the Year.” Our team negotiated the purchase agreement, condominium master deed, and construction-related contracts for the buildout of the new headquarters.
• Represented Veris Residential, Inc. in transactions involving the sale of three Class A office buildings, a mixed-use retail/commercial building, and a commercial development site in Jersey City. We served as real estate counsel on the mixed-use property and as New Jersey local counsel on the remaining assets. The firm also acted as environmental counsel across all transactions, negotiating provisions and facilitating the transfer of permits. The deals were collectively recognized by NAIOP New Jersey as the 2024 “Mixed-Use/Commercial Deal of the Year.”
• Represented affiliated entities of Avidan Management LLC in one of New Jersey’s largest industrial real estate portfolio sales at the time, involving approximately 2.6 million square feet of office, warehouse, cold-storage, and bulk distribution space across multiple municipalities. The transaction included negotiation of five power purchase agreements covering more than 6 MW of solar production and was recognized as a finalist for NAIOP NJ’s "Industrial Deal of the Year."
• Represented a real estate developer in the $46 million sale of a warehouse development site, a complex, multi-year transaction involving contractual disputes that threatened the client’s investment and pricing. Secured a settlement that enabled joint marketing and value recovery to preserve and maximize the client’s investment.
• Represented a New York-based full-service real estate firm and its affiliates, with holdings throughout the country, in the redevelopment and approval of a $75 million portfolio of industrial outdoor storage properties in Delanco, successfully challenging restrictive zoning through litigation, securing adoption of a redevelopment plan, and obtaining municipal approvals enabling implementation of the client’s business model. The buildings totaled more than one million square feet leased to more than 80 tenants.
• Counseled a wholly-owned affiliate of a publicly traded REIT on the $32 million sale of vacant land in Wall Township. Serving as lead counsel, the firm’s negotiated the sale agreement, resolving title and environmental issues, addressing outstanding and expiring development approvals, managing regulatory delays, and successfully closing the transaction.
• Assisted a real estate investor, developer, and manager in reducing title costs and improving financing efficiency with the creative structuring of a $225 million refinancing of a multi-state commercial real estate portfolio encompassing 34 office, retail, and industrial properties.
• Represented a real estate investor, developer, and manager in securing a $93 million construction loan from Valley National Bank for a 420-unit residential development in Easton, PA. Greenbaum’s team negotiated all loan documents, resolving issues related to municipal approvals, including complicated frontage dedication. The financing was structured to avoid bringing in an equity investor, resulting in substantial savings for the client and a timely closing.
• Locked in a permanent fixed-rate loan for a 254-unit multifamily development mid-construction, protecting the developer from a rising interest rate environment. By negotiating a strategic holdback for three incomplete buildings, the financing successfully replaced a fully guaranteed construction loan with a permanent facility—dramatically reducing the client’s personal guaranty exposure and freeing up significant credit for future projects.
• Counseled a prominent regional developer in connection with a series of loan transactions that totaled over $200 million, financed by five lenders and secured by approximately two dozen commercial and industrial properties in New Jersey and Eastern Pennsylvania.
• Counseled an international Fortune 500 retailer on large-scale retail and commercial developments totaling millions of square feet across multiple locations, advising on redevelopment approvals, PILOT agreements, environmental remediation, land use and zoning, construction permitting, and leasing matters.
• Advised on a joint venture between developer Jonathan Rose Companies and JP Morgan Chase on a mixed-use redevelopment project in South Orange, including title matters, redevelopment implementation, and negotiation of a $38.5 million construction loan. The high-profile project, a 215-unit LEED certified apartment building, retail space and a 500+ space parking facility, represented a significant milestone in the revitalization of the municipality’s downtown.
• Represented an affiliate of a multi-generational family-owned real estate firm in the development and $83 million sale of two Class A multifamily buildings in Rahway, securing land use approvals, negotiating redevelopment and financial agreements, advising on environmental remediation, and managing complex regulatory, title, and permitting issues through closing.

Memberships

• New Jersey State Bar Association: Real Property Trust and Estate Law Section

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