Ammad Waheed
Partner
Norton Rose Fulbright US LLP
Biography
Ammad Waheed is a partner in Norton Rose Fulbright's Houston office and leads the Houston real estate group.
Ammad Waheed has a broad-based commercial real estate and corporate transactions practice. His national real estate practice experience includes extensive representation of REITs, pension funds, institutional and non-institutional investors, private equity funds, lenders, and local developers. Ammad has significant experience in handling all types of commercial real estate transactions: acquisition and sale of vacant land, office buildings, multi-family, hotels, shopping centers, and other commercial properties; commercial leasing (office, industrial, retail, and medical) and ground leasing; acquisition, forming and representing limited liability companies, partnerships, and joint ventures; construction, permanent, securitized, mezzanine and participating financing; sale-leaseback transactions; and contractor, architect, vendor, broker and management agreements. In addition, he has also handled complex corporate transactions with a significant real estate component, such as mergers and acquisitions, asset purchase agreements, global master service agreements, and portfolio purchases and sales. Finally, Ammad has also advised clients developing renewable energy projects around the country and helps navigate associated real estate issues. Ammad's clients appreciate how he promptly provides actionable advice by contextualizing risk with an understanding of their business goals.
Ammad also brings broad litigation experience to his transactional practice, enabling him to provide a valuable perspective to clients seeking to minimize risk. He has first-chaired a dozen jury trials to verdict. He has assisted in several bankruptcy adversary proceedings on behalf of a global investment bank after the company's historic bankruptcy confirmation. He also assisted in the representation of a major energy company in a multibillion-dollar fraudulent conveyance case that went to trial.
Prior to entering private practice, Ammad served as a judicial intern for the Honorable Gray H. Miller of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Texas, and interned at the Cook County State's Attorney's Office in Illinois. Ammad has also worked at large, international law firms, and served as a broker with and in-house counsel for one of the world's largest tenant-only commercial real estate firms.
Ammad is fluent in several languages, including German, Hindi, and Urdu. He enjoys providing pro bono representation, including asylum, predatory business, and discrimination cases. For his efforts, Ammad was invited to join the Pro Bono College of the State Bar of Texas.
Professional experience
Collapse allUniversity of Houston Law Center, Houston, Texas
J.D., magna cum laude, May 2012
• A.A. White Commercial Arbitration Training (Jan. 2012); 40-Hour Mediation Training (Jan. 2012)
• Houston Journal of International Law (Fall 2010)
• Order of the Barons
• Moot Court; Semifinalist Hippard Open Mock Trial Competition (Fall 2010)
• Honor Court Student Representative (2011-12)
• The Advocates, Executive Chair of Negotiation & Mediation (2010-11); Section Representative (2009-10)
• Civil Procedure Tutor (2010)
University of Chicago, Chicago, Illinois
B.A. Philosophy, B.Sc. Biology, with General Honors, June 2009
• Dean's List (2006-09)
• Iris Photography Magazine, Associate Editor (2008-09)
- Texas State Bar
- Represented numerous institutional landlords and REITs in leasing out several million square feet of office, industrial, and retail space.
- Represented one of the largest pharmaceutical companies in the world in its disposition of a 433-acre life-science manufacturing facility (involved navigating significant environmental liability issues) and its leaseback of almost 1 million square feet.
- Represented the owner of 700 Louisiana Street, an iconic skyscraper in Houston, Texas, in connection with its asset management matters.
- Represented the owner of a building in the Texas Medical Center for the lease of 170,000 square feet of medical space.
- Represented an investment firm in its acquisition of numerous rooftop and ground-mounted community solar projects across the United States.
- Represented a hydrogen production and transportation in connection with its real estate matters nationwide.
- Represented the operator of a crypto-mining data center in connection with its site development and ground leases in Texas.
- Represented the landlord of a downtown San Francisco building for a new 200,000 square feet lease with PwC, in one of the largest leasing deals of the year in San Francisco.
- Represented a Fortune 50 pharmaceuticals company in connection with its industrial and office leases in Massachusetts, New Jersey, and North Carolina.
- Negotiated fiber installation agreements with nationwide providers for various clients around the country.
- Represented a national furniture chain in connection with all of its real estate matters, including leasing, acquisition, and development in California, Georgia, Kansas, and Texas.
- Represented a pharmaceutical company in the sale and leaseback of a multi-property portfolio in Fort Worth, Texas.
- Represented the law firm of Mayer Brown LLP in the lease of over 60,000 RSF, Class-A office space in downtown Chicago.
- Represented the buyer of One South Dearborn, a 830,000 RSF, Class-A skyscraper in Chicago, Illinois, which serves as the headquarters for Sidley Austin LLP.
- Represented the seller in its disposition of 40-property, multistate industrial portfolio, valued at over $440 million.
- Represented the buyer in the acquisition of a portfolio of Class-A multifamily properties in Sugar Land, Texas.
- Negotiated portfolio-wide property management agreements for a client with office properties in California.
- Assisted with the financing of the loan for the purchase of an 80% interest in the historic Sunset Tower Hotel in Los Angeles.
- Served as local counsel for a client in its financing of the purchase of The Catalyst, a high-rise, Class-A residential tower in Houston, Texas.
- Assisted with joint venture of a healthcare organization and a local, Nevada developer for the construction of long-term healthcare facilities.
- Principally handled complex real estate agreements and representations relating to an LNG terminal in Accra, Ghana.
- Structured a complex, Group Purchasing Organization (GPO) agreement for a healthcare client with numerous facilities with a nationwide brokerage company, which required navigation of local brokerage laws and applicable Federal healthcare regulations.
- Represented a financial institution in title insurance coverage dispute against a national title insurance company.
- Represented Anadarko Petroleum Corporation in a multibillion-dollar fraudulent conveyance matter.
- Represented Lehman Brothers in several bankruptcy adversary proceedings after the company's historic bankruptcy confirmation.
- Lawdragon 500 Leading Global Real Estate Lawyers, Lawdragon, 2024
- "Advanced Leasing Topics & Trends," 35th Annual Advanced Real Estate Drafting Course, TexasBarCLE, March 15, 2024
- "Commercial Leasing 101," Houston Bar Association Continuing Legal Education, September 28, 2018
- "Stop The Dominoes From Falling: Making Sure That One Affiliate's Liabilities Do Not Bring Down the Whole Corporate Family (co-author)," University of Texas CLE, Presented at 35th Annual Corporate Counsel Institute, May 02, 2013
- "Limiting Reviewability of Transfer Venues in Texas (co-author)," ABA Commercial & Business Litigation Newsletter, February 27, 2013
- Presenter: "Advanced Leasing Topics & Trends," 35th Annual Advanced Real Estate Drafting Course, TexasBarCLE, March 15, 2024
- Co-Presenter: "Failure to Launch: A Construction Webinar Series," Norton Rose Fulbright US LLP, January 18, 2024
- Presenter: "Commercial Leasing 101," Houston Bar Association Continuing Legal Education, September 28, 2018