New York – One Vanderbilt Avenue
Advises clients on real estate transactions, including commercial real estate workouts and restructurings
Provides real estate litigation support and forensic financial analysis on disputes involving property ownership and operations
Counsels on aircraft finance, project finance, structured finance, finance leases, sale-leasebacks, and trust administration for high-net-worth individuals
Paul K. Kovachev focuses his practice on commercial real estate transactions, handling the full finance and investment cycle for acquisitions and dispositions of single assets and portfolios; mortgage, construction, mezzanine, and preferred equity financings; joint ventures; commercial mortgage-backed securities transactions; restructurings; and real estate investment trust matters. He has closed more than $15 billion in such transactions, representing institutional owners, developers, lenders, and investors across multifamily, senior housing, industrial, hospitality, office, and retail.
A licensed CPA, Paul brings accounting fluency and financial acumen to deal analysis and structuring. He crafts actionable guidance on workouts, restructurings, and litigation support involving real estate assets, as well as aircraft finance, project finance, structured finance, and finance leases for high-net-worth clients.
Ranked in
The Best Lawyers in America, Real Estate Law, Ones to Watch
Real Estate Finance
- Represented the borrower, a national retail chain, in a $455.7 million CMBS loan refinancing secured by eight industrial distribution centers located in eight states*
- Represented the underwriter, a national investment bank, in a $550 million tax-exempt public-private bond financing for the acquisition of a casino, hotel, and golf resort complex in the Catskills region of New York, including the drafting of the indenture, mortgage, and preliminary official statement*
- Represented the senior lenders and preferred members, two institutional investment firms, in the restructuring of a $194 million senior loan financing and a new $34.7 million preferred equity investment in an industrial development*
- Represented two institutional real estate lenders in an assignment-in-lieu mortgage loan and preferred equity restructuring affecting the takeover of a $226.3 million industrial property comprising 11 warehouses from a defaulting borrower*
- Represented a private real estate investment firm, as borrower, in approximately 20 acquisition, construction, and permanent loan financings, aggregating more than $850 million, for single-family and multifamily build-for-rent communities located throughout the Southeast and Mid-Atlantic*
- The Best Lawyers in America, Real Estate Law, Ones to Watch, 2025-2027
- Law360, Real Estate Practice Group of the Year, team member, 2023
- U.S. News – Best Lawyers, Law Firm of the Year: Litigation – Real Estate, team member, 2022
- Legal Aid Society, Pro Bono Publico Award, 2018
- Association of Certified Fraud Examiners Award, 2006
- Marquette University, Accounting Department, Deloitte & Touche Award, 2005
- New York City Bar Association, Real Property Law Committee, Structured Finance Committee, member
- Eastern District of New York, Federal Pro Se Legal Assistance Project, volunteer
- Georgetown University Law Center, LLM
- New York Law School, JD
- Marquette University, BS, magna cum laude
- District of Columbia
- New York
- US District Court for the Eastern District of New York
- US District Court for the Southern District of New York
- Bulgarian
- English
- German
- Russian
