Overview
David C. Cook is a partner with Foley & Lardner LLP, and is the national chair of the firm's Real Estate Practice. He has over 30 years of real estate experience representing real estate funds, public companies, REITs, owners developers, institutional investors and high-net worth individuals and family offices. David's experience is across most areas of real estate, including construction, financing, joint ventures, workouts, sale-leasebacks, leasing, acquisitions and dispositions.
A significant portion of David's work involves the acquisition, financing and disposition of multi-asset, multi-state portfolios, both negotiated and auctioned transactions, involving most asset classes, including multi-family, golf course communities, resorts, shopping centers, storage facilities, senior and assisted living facilities, office and timberland.
Representative Experience
- Represented the real estate investment arm of an insurance and financial services association in the sale of its Florida and Texas campuses, consisting of six office buildings totaling approximately 900,000 square feet
- Represented a public REIT in the $2.7 billion acquisition of a portfolio of 101 shopping centers located across the United States
- Represented a private equity fund in the acquisition of Class A suburban office portfolio located in the Salt Lake City metropolitan area
- Represented NorthPoint Development in the approximately $528 million sale of its self-storage portfolio consisting of 36 facilities located in 12 states to Public Storage
- Represented a private equity fund in the acquisition of an 11-asset multifamily portfolio in the Charlotte and Raleigh, North Carolina, metropolitan regions
- Represented a national general construction and real estate development company in negotiating a 90/10 joint venture with a global investment management firm in connection with the development of a student housing development in Tempe, Arizona
- Represented a private equity fund in the sale of a portfolio of Class A suburban office buildings located in Florida, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, and South Carolina
- Represented two separate joint ventures in the disposition of portfolios of medical office buildings located in Indiana, Illinois, Minnesota, North Carolina, South Carolina, and Virginia
- Represented a private equity fund in its $78 million acquisition of a downtown Tampa Class A office tower
- Represented affiliates of Starwood Capital Group in the sales of the Sheraton Ft. Lauderdale "Yankee Clipper" Beach Hotel and Westin Beach Resort & Spa
- Represented a private development company in the sale of The Cliffs Communities, consisting of seven golf course communities in the Carolina mountains
- Represented a joint venture with an institutional investor in an acquisition program of medical office buildings and hospitals throughout the United States
- Represented a client in the acquisition of three multifamily portfolios consisting of 40 projects located in California, Florida, Texas, Colorado and Maryland, with aggregate purchase price in excess of $1.5 billion
Representative Timberland Experience
- Advised one of the lead investors in connection with the acquisition of a portion of International Paper's 4.1 million acre timberland portfolio - generally recognized as the largest private land sale since the Louisiana Purchase
- Advised the family office of one of the wealthiest individuals in the United States in the acquisition of approximately 550,000 acres in Florida - considered to be the largest contiguous privately owned, undeveloped land east of the Mississippi River
- Represented an affiliate of the Mormon Church in acquiring approximately 382,000 acres located in northwest Florida from The St. Joe Company
- Represented a life insurance company as lender's counsel in connection with a $100 million revolving loan secured by approximately 26,000 acres of timberland located in 19 Georgia counties
Recognition
- Recognized as one of Connect CRE's 2021 Lawyers in Real Estate
- Peer review rated as AV Preeminent®, the highest performance rating in the Martindale-Hubbell® Peer Review Ratings™
- Selected by his peers for inclusion in The Best Lawyers in America© in the fields of Real Estate Law (2009-2023) and Timber Law (2013-2023)
- Recognized as the Jacksonville Real Estate “Lawyer of the Year” by Best Lawyers® (2019)
- Recognized as one of Florida’s Legal Elite™ by Florida Trend magazine (2005-2013 and 2019)
- Selected for inclusion in the 2009-2014, 2017, and 2019 Florida Super Lawyers® lists
- Recognized as one of the top real estate attorneys in the state of Florida by Chambers USA (2007, 2008, 2021 and 2022)
- Recipient of Foley's Carl Hitchner Mentor of the Year Award (2011) - These awards are presented each year to recognize outstanding mentoring by partners and senior counsel
After graduating from West Point, David served approximately six years in the U.S. Army, attaining the rank of Captain.
David serves on Congressman John Rutherford's Service Academy Selection Board.
Education
- University of Florida (J.D., with honors, 1988)
- United States Military Academy at West Point (1980)
Admissions
- Florida