Oculus Capital Group opened its doors in February 2010 during one of the harshest winters the Northeast had seen in years. While other companies closed their doors and waited for the thaw, Oculus pushed through and Dilworth was there to help. They began their first project, the acquisition of a student housing project in Slippery Rock, Pennsylvania out of bankruptcy.
Oculus was started by two individuals with over thirty years of combined experience in real estate investment and finance. They and the company’s investors formed Oculus Capital Group to focus on buying distressed, over-leveraged or bankrupt multi-family, student housing and market rate apartment projects, primarily in the Philadelphia Metropolitan Statistical Area (Philadelphia MSA) to Florida, as the projects rolled out of financial institutions and special servicers.
The first project that Oculus focused on was a 200 unit, 632 bed, luxury student housing complex known as The Ivy Apartments located in Slippery Rock, Pennsylvania. The original developer filed for bankruptcy and the project was put up for auction. Dilworth’s Bankruptcy attorneys, with the assistance of the firm’s Real Estate Group, negotiated with the reluctant seller and its lender through a contentious two-day bankruptcy auction after which Oculus ultimately was deemed the winning bidder.
Then Dilworth’s Real Estate attorneys took over to close the purchase, from negotiating the Freddie Mac loan documents; dealing with the multi-tiered structure of the eight entities making up the ultimate owner of the project, including drafting and negotiating the limited partnership agreement between the Oculus partners and a venture capital firm who invested in the project as a limited partner; revising the property management agreement with the property management company; reviewing title issues; and coordinating the purchase and loan closings. Dilworth’s tax attorneys were also brought in to handle tax issues related to the limited partnership agreement. All of these activities had to be coordinated and accomplished within a relatively short time frame to meet the closing deadline approved by the bankruptcy court.
This project is just another example of how Dilworth’s different practices work together efficiently to provide our clients with comprehensive legal representation to bring a project to a successful conclusion. |