Richard Frank has extensive real estate experience from both his law firm practice and his in-house corporate practice. His real estate experience includes representing purchasers, sellers, lenders, landlords and tenants in a wide variety of transactions, both in Texas and across the country.

Richard handles matters involving the purchase, sale, financing, refinancing, foreclosure, debt restructuring, management and leasing of:

Restaurants
Hotels
Shopping centers
Office buildings
Multifamily projects
Industrial properties
Manufacturing facilities
Raw land.

Prior to joining Akin Gump, Richard served more than eight years as the senior vice president, legal of a major publicly-traded retailer and franchisor with more than 9,100 store locations in the United States and 24 foreign countries. He also spent more than seven years as the general counsel of a privately-held international restaurant company and franchisor with more than 750 restaurant locations in the United States and 16 foreign countries.

In each of these positions, Mr. Frank advised the senior management and boards of his clients and gained significant experience in handling the legal aspects of numerous corporate, real estate, finance, franchise, marketing, distribution, intellectual property, litigation, technology, and labor and employment matters.

Representative Work

Represented a publicly-traded retailer in connection with the sale-leaseback of its Memphis, Tennessee corporate headquarters, distribution center and retail training facility containing over 1 million square feet of office, warehouse and retail space.
Advised a publicly-traded energy company in connection with its acquisition, financing and leasing of two 14-story office-buildings located in Midland, Texas.
Assisted a private equity investor in financing transactions with various lenders totaling approximately $100 million and involving over 100 properties across the United States.
Advised a technology company with respect to the negotiation of a lease of approximately 64,000 square feet of office space for its corporate headquarters in Richardson, Texas.
Represented a developer in the negotiation of a ground lease for a 418 bed student housing project located in Clemson, South Carolina, as well as the subsequent development and construction financing for the project.

Advised a real estate investor group in connection with its formation of 17 separate single-purpose entities and acquisition and securitized financing of 17 apartment complexes located throughout the southwestern United States, in transactions having an aggregate value in excess of $100 million and involving more than 4,000 apartment units.
Assisted a group of banks and other financial institutions in negotiating and documenting a $250 million credit facility secured by various assets, including the fee and ground leasehold interests in four luxury hotels and one office building located in New York, Georgia, Illinois and Massachusetts.
Counseled a national transit company in connection with its leveraged lease of over 400 buses and related equipment having an aggregate value of approximately $100 million.
Represented a wholesale distributor of pharmaceuticals and related products in connection with the sale of more than $100 million in trade receivables and the sale-lease back of its warehouse and distribution facilities located in Texas and Ohio.
Provided an international franchisor in connection with its investigation and contractual negotiations relating to a joint venture transaction in the People’s Republic of China.