The POWER 30: L.J. Rotman

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Hinshaw & Culbertson LLP

If you have an extra hotel on your hands that you’d like to get rid of or some beachfront property, you should check in with L.J. Rotman. In Minneapolis you can look at the intersection of Nicollet, Hennepin and Washington Avenues to see his kind of project. That’s just across the river from and near the birthplace of Minneapolis.

In 2023, Rotman represented United Properties in the sale of RBC Gateway Office Tower to San Francisco-based Spear Street Capital. That involved a 525,000-square-foot portion of the 1.2 million-square-foot, 37-story mixed-use project in downtown Minneapolis. The $225 million transaction was the largest sale price for office space in the Twin Cities and among the largest commercial real estate sales transactions in the United States in 2023.

“Working with the team from United Properties, the [Pohlad Companies] that owned the property, was a delight,” Rotman said.

Previously, Rotman handled all legal aspects of the development and construction of the tower, which includes a Four Seasons Hotel — the only five-star hotel in the city — and was the first skyscraper to be built in Minneapolis in two decades when it was completed in 2022.

Rotman has a pat on the back to everyone involved in the construction of RBC Gateway. Not only is the building spectacular in scale, cost and complexity, it was completed on schedule during the COVID-19 pandemic and endured supply chain challenges. “It was a great job,” said Rotman.

The project was familiar territory to Rotman, who has centered his construction law practice on the hospitality industry. He has been responsible for the structuring and negotiation of billions of dollars of hotel acquisitions, financings, developments, restructurings and workouts involving thousands of hotels throughout the world.

Here at home base, he has scored with notable hotel and sports venue transactions, including Target Field, home of the Minnesota Twins, and U.S. Bank Stadium, home of the Minnesota Vikings.