Nilufer O. DeScherer concentrates her practice in real estate services with an emphasis on commercial real estate transactions and mortgage lending. She handles commercial real estate purchases and sales in New York and New Jersey for the Firm’s individual, corporate, public utility and government clients. Ms. DeScherer also serves as lender’s counsel for regional banks and private lenders for financing transactions in New York and New Jersey. She has experience representing property owners in securing loans from a broad range of financing institutions including regional and national banks, private lenders, Freddie Mac servicers and financing involving the New Jersey Economic Development Authority.
Ms. DeScherer also has substantial experience in handling land use matters. She has represented small and large developers in a diverse range of projects, including subdivisions, site plans, use variances applications and redevelopment projects. Her public sector representation includes serving as municipal and land use attorney for both municipalities and public authorities. She has served as special redevelopment counsel and counsel for a sewer assessment commission and an historic preservation commission.
Representative Experience
- Acquisition and financing of a 170-unit multi-family residential building in Bergen County, New Jersey
- Acquisition of a 70,000 square foot building in New Jersey; representation in the conversion to television studio facility and production studios for an international media corporation, including corporate restructuring, lease termination negotiations, real estate tax appeals and construction oversight
- Sale of a 14-acre tract of land by a public water utility for conversion to public park purposes, including step transfer through private land trust and associated reservation of easement agreements; included negotiation with two municipalities, the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection and coordination of public Green Acres and New Jersey Environmental Infrastructure Trust funding
- $40 million Freddie Mac financing of a multi-family residential building in Bergen County, New Jersey
- $23 million financing for a multi-family residential building in Essex County, New Jersey
- Acquisition, development and financing of a partially constructed Walgreen’s in Bronx, New York
- $16 million financing of client’s inventory of apartment buildings in New York City
- Green Acres approval of diversion of encumbered parkland in Bergen County, including subsequent public bid sale of unencumbered parcel
- Sewer Assessment Commission attorney for a local assessment sanitary sewer project in Bergen County
- Obtained site plan approval for construction of a new 10,000 square foot mixed use commercial building
- Financing for non-profit school in New Jersey (Bergen County), including modification of corporate governance documents
- Counsel to non-profit school
- New Jersey Economic Development Authority financing for expansion of a non-profit school
Professional and Community Involvement
- Hudson-Bergen Inn of Transactional Counsel
- Bergen County Bar Association, Real Estate and Land Use Committees
- New Jersey Bar Association, Real Estate Section
- Woodcliff Lake Planning Board (2018-present)
- Past President, Women Lawyers in Bergen
- Bergen LEADS Class of 2014
- Community Service Committee for the Volunteer Center of Bergen County’s Alumni Bergen Leads (ABL)
- Former Chair, Vassar Alumni Admissions Interview Program, Northern New Jersey
Articles and Presentations
- Commercial Real Estate Transactions: From Handshake to Closing, Hudson-Bergen Inn of Transactional Counsel (February 2016)
- Participation Agreements, Annamae Baerenbach Memorial 27th Annual Lending Conference, New Jersey Bankers Association (June 2015)
- Participation Agreements, New Jersey Banker’s Association (July 2011)
- Negotiating Real Estate Loan Terms and Workout Options, National Business Institute (February 2011)
- Smart Growth Principles for Balancing Future Development and Conservation in a Municipality, Bergen County Land Use Symposium (2008, 2009, 2010)
- Legal Issues Involving Local Governments, National Business Institute (March 2009)