Morgan Miller Blair

Chris Hunter is a Principal in the law firm, Morgan Miller Blair, and is the Chairman of the firm’s Real Estate Practice Group.

Chris began his legal career working for a San Francisco law firm that was general counsel to a major bank.  He represented the bank and other financial institutions in a wide variety of real estate lending matters, including loan workouts, foreclosures, bankruptcies, receiverships and the management and disposition of REO properties.  Since joining Morgan Miller Blair in 1999, Chris has negotiated billions of dollars in acquisitions, loans and leases.  In addition, Chris has substantial experience with distressed assets, and represents lenders, borrowers and opportunistic inventors in transactions involving a broad spectrum of real estate matters, including:

Represents lenders in loan transactions, workouts, foreclosures and distressed proceedings, including:

• Bulk sale of $300 million in nonperforming loans and REO properties.
• Billions of dollars of syndicated loans. 
• Workout of defaulted $180 million loan for residential development.
• Loan documentation, workouts and collection matters.

Represents receivers of distressed projects, including:

• Appointed by the Superior Court to represent the receiver in a partially completed urban mixed use project with a loan default of over $108 million.
• Negotiation and sale of partially completed retail center.

Represents buyers and sellers of commercial properties and distressed properties:

• Acquisition and financing of retail stores from financially distressed retailer in four states involving purchase of sites, formation of project specific limited liability companies, and the negotiation and documentation of nearly $100 million in financing for project.
• Acquisition of corporate headquarters of Fortune 500 company in sale/leaseback transaction from the company’s Chapter 11 bankruptcy estate.
• Acquisition of public and private property for the construction of a self-storage facility, including the negotiation of a disposition and development agreement for the public property.
• Acquisition and disposition of 8 shopping centers with a total aggregate purchase price in excess of $80 million.
• Billions of dollars in loan transactions, including loans for office, retail, mixed-use, industrial, land development, multifamily, and mobile home projects.
• Acquisition of properties formerly valued in excess of $100 million from distressed seller, and negotiated short sale with the lender.

Represents publicly traded and private homebuilders in transactions including:

• Formation of joint venture for the acquisition and development of over 2000 homesites and condominium parcel for 500 condominiums in transactions exceeding $350 million in Northern California.
• Negotiation of nearly $1 billion in construction and mezzanine financing for ten joint ventures.
• Negotiated a development agreement for three developers with the City of Oakley and related infrastructure improvements for the construction of 655 housing units.
• Acquisition of seven adjacent sites for the development of several hundred single-family homes as well as multifamily and commercial uses and negotiated development agreement for the project.

In response to the credit crisis, Chris was asked to join the California Building Industry Association’s (CBIA) Acquisition, Development and Construction Management Task Force, which is currently lobbying in Washington DC and Sacramento on behalf of the building industry.  Chris frequently writes and speaks on matters related to the financial crisis and has been part of panel discussions on the topic before the CBIA, the Home Builders Association (HBA), Commercial Real Estate Women (CREW), and the San Francisco Registry and has been quoted in local national and international media.  Chris served on the board of Habitat for Humanity East Bay for six years and continues to provide them pro bono legal assistance.

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