Mary Muehlstein is a member of Pedersen & Houpt's Real Estate Group, with a practice that concentrates on commercial, corporate, and real estate law.

Representing clients from such industries as transportation, entertainment, food and beverage services, financial services, and real estate, she has built a solid track record by achieving successful outcomes in a wide range of significant commercial, corporate, and real estate transactions.

As a business lawyer with a particular focus on office leasing, Mary represents tenants and landlords in a range of complex transactions. For both borrowers and lenders, she has successfully negotiated and documented all types of secured and unsecured loans, ranging from construction lending and equipment financing to asset-based financing and mezzanine financing, from loans with respect to leveraged buyout transactions to sale-leaseback financing.

Mary's broad-based experience additionally extends to the coordination and completion of complex real estate transactions involving golf course developments, mixed-use urban buildings, shopping centers, and a casino/hotel property.

She has advised such diverse clients as a microbrewery, a leading manufacturer of nozzles and control systems, a coin-operated laundry chain, and an art gallery in connection with their day-to-day business needs, including the preparation of domestic and international sales representation agreements, corporate and limited liability company governance documents, and confidentiality agreements.

Representative Experience

• Represented landlords with respect to leases of significant floor space in the Chicago metropolitan area.
• Represented tenant in the largest office lease closed in 2006 in the Chicago metropolitan area for space totaling 228,000 square feet.
• Negotiated leases involving sale/leaseback financing and property purchases across North America for multi-unit retail tenants.
• Represented a national, publicly traded education institution with respect to the lease of its headquarters building and its administrative building totaling 169,500 square feet.
• Represented a Chicago-area, publicly traded company with respect to leasing an aggregated 143,500 square feet of office space in the Midwest and southern U.S.
• Resolved real estate issues, as well as issues affecting the roll-out of new concept stores, for a national department store retailer.
• Prepared filings for numerous major mergers and acquisitions, including those associated with the sale of a major chemical distributor to an international company.
• Handled the lease transactions for 100 units of a coin-operated laundry chain, and numerous other multi-unit retail concepts.
• Appeared before the Federal Trade Commission and the Department of Justice in respect to Hart-Scott-Rodino Antitrust Improvement Act of 1976 filings.

Honors & Recognitions

2016 & 2017 Illinois Leading Lawyer

Professional Affiliations

American Bar Association

Chicago Bar Association

• Commercial Finance and Transactions Committee
• Real Estate Committee

Commercial Finance Association, Midwest Chapter

Commercial Real Estate Executive Women in Chicago