Jay T. Blount

Overview

Jay Blount represents owners, developers, and managers of hotels and mixed-use projects. The core of his practice is negotiating hotel brand management agreements and joint venture agreements for hotel and mixed-use projects.

He also represents buyers and sellers of hotels, including through debt acquisitions and restructurings. When representing buyers, Jay and other Eckert Seamans team members advise on all aspects of the acquisition, including real estate matters, management and franchise agreements, and loan documents and related agreements, such as comfort letters and manager non-disturbance agreements.

Jay also has a strong background in brands and trademarks, having assisted an international hotel brand on its sizable trademark portfolio and having spent four years as an in-house lawyer at a large sporting goods retailer, where his duties included advising the company’s substantial private brand business.

Representative Matters

• Regularly advises hotel and asset managers on joint ventures with hotel owners and investors.
• Regularly advises hotel developers and owners regarding management agreements for luxury brands, including 1 Hotel, 21c Museum and Alila.
• Advised a buyer acquiring a large, urban hotel through the restructuring and payoff of defaulted mezzanine and mortgage loans.
• Advised a lender on loan and franchise default matters for a large, full service hotel.
• Advised a large real estate firm on franchise and brand management matters related to its portfolio of almost 200 hotels.
• Advised a developer and operator regarding a joint venture to develop entertainment and mixed-use projects on a 200+-acre site in Florida.