Charles E. "Chuck" Picton

About Charles

Chuck is a pragmatic, solution-oriented real estate attorney whose clients rely upon to handle their most complex and high-priority transactions. He is analytical, strategic, and creative. Chuck is a skilled negotiator, with a deep understanding of his clients’ goals and the experience and business acumen necessary to help them achieve those goals. As a partner in BFKN’s Real Estate Group, Chuck’s practice focuses primarily on real estate finance, and the acquisition and disposition of real estate assets. While Chuck works extensively within the retail sector, he also has broad experience with transactions involving office, multifamily, campus housing, industrial, and hospitality properties located throughout the United States. His clients include publicly-traded and privately held real estate operating companies and investment firms, opportunity funds, investment managers, REITs, and real estate developers. Chuck has represented borrowers in connection with a multitude of real estate-based finance transactions, including mortgage, mezzanine, and construction loans originated by domestic and foreign life companies, balance sheet lenders (stand-alone and syndicate), and CMBS originators. In addition, he regularly represents both purchasers and sellers of real estate assets. Prior to rejoining BFKN in 2012, Chuck was Vice President and Senior Associate General Counsel at General Growth Properties (GGP), where he headed the Capital Markets legal practice group. Chuck represented GGP in connection with dozens of mortgage and mezzanine loans, with average loan proceeds in excess of $100 million and total proceeds exceeding $10 billion. During his 6-year tenure at GGP, through a unique cross-departmental experience, Chuck gained an in-depth understanding of the retail industry, handling not only property and corporate-level financings, but also new developments, redevelopments, acquisitions, dispositions, anchor transactions, joint venture transactions, and big-box and theater leases. During GGP's bankruptcy, Chuck played an integral role in the negotiation and documentation of the consensual restructuring of nearly $15 billion of secured debt. Chuck’s in-house experience at GGP provided invaluable insight into the client-side of business operations that is essential to aligning complex real estate transactions with the desired business goals of his clients.

Practice Areas

Education

• University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign, B.A., graduated 1994
• University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign, J.D., graduated 2002

Bar Admissions

• Illinois, Illinois State Bar Association

Languages