Thomas W. Smith

As a managing partner of Smith, Buss, & Jacobs, Thomas Smith has overseen the firm’s growth from three attorneys specializing in commercial real estate and commercial litigation to 28 attorneys with specialties in community association, construction, labor and employment, not-for-profit, and corporate law.

For more than thirty years, Tom has represented cooperatives and condominium associations in Manhattan and Westchester as general counsel, and international and national companies in financing, lease, and disposition of property transactions in the United States. He also serves as general counsel to a not-for-profit entity which founded a charter school network with financing provided through Build New York bond offerings. As a Founder and Chairman of the Board of Directors of The Westchester Bank, Mr. Smith helped the bank grow from the 5700th largest bank in the country with $22 million in capital to a bank with $1.4 billion dollars  in capital prior to its merger with Valley National Bank.

Tom’s diverse experience allows him to provide a unique perspective to clients in connection with conveyances, leasing and financing of office, multifamily and retail properties; the formulation and implementation of development plans during favorable market periods; and the restructuring of debt and repositioning of assets during other periods. He has represented shareholders in proxy conflicts who gained control of several distressed cooperatives, resulting in the restructuring of financing and the preservation and enhancement of the value of the homes of thousands of residents.

Tom is an active member of community and not-for profit-boards including Yonkers Partners in Education, Theaterworks USA, the Mount Kisco Zoning Board and Recreation Commission, and the Bedford Central School District Construction Steering Committee. He has a passion for the state of U.S. media and owns a majority interest in San Diego Magazine, one of the country’s earliest magazine publications. He is also the managing partner of real estate companies which own office and retail properties.

• Represented clients in various debt restructuring matters leading to the preservation and improvement of numerous properties containing thousands of residential units from stand-alone projects to a several-hundred-million-dollar portfolios.
• Represented an affiliate of an international publicly traded company in the negotiation and documentation of joint venture to create a bio-refinery to convert effluent streams from a manufacturing facility to biofuels and byproducts.
• Represented a developer in connection with the 130 lot subdivision and development of property in Chappaqua NY and the development of a 82 unit luxury condominium property in Brian Cliff Manor.
• Represented the developer in the conversion of a multiple building property from Mitchell Lama status to an HDFC and the subdivision of the property to accommodate development of buildings containing 640 addition affordable housing units.

• Board of the Southern New York Chapter of the Community Associations Institute
• Attorney General Dennis Vacco’s Martin Act Task Force
• Founder of the Council of Westchester Co-ops and Condominiums (CWCC)
• Member of the Bedford Central School District Construction Steering Committee
• Treasurer on the Board of Yonkers Partners in Education (YPIE)
• Member of the Mount Kisco Zoning Board of Appeals
• Member, New York State Bar Association
• Chairman of the Board of Directors of The Westchester Bank
• Board of Directors for The Yonkers Partnership in Education

• SuperLawyer (2008-2018)
• AV Rating, Martindale-Hubbell