Gregg M. Dorman

My focus

I represent clients on all aspects of complex commercial real estate transactions, including the acquisition, disposition, exchange, financing, development, leasing, construction, management, and operation of all types of real estate assets and interests throughout the US and internationally. My clients include global corporations, international retailers, real estate investors and developers, healthcare facilities, restaurant operators, and professional sports franchises.

I have extensive experience representing national and international retailers in shopping center-related acquisition, development, leasing, disposition, and portfolio management transactions for stand-alone sites or in larger shopping center, mixed-use or multi-use buildings, projects, or enclosed malls.

I previously worked in-house with a real estate development company where I navigated deals from the purchase of raw land through project design, leasing, financing, construction, management, operation, and ultimate sale. Having been on the client-side of transactions, I am uniquely positioned to manage transactions efficiently and to provide my clients with practical legal and business counsel and guidance to get deals done in the most cost-effective manner. I routinely partner with client’s in-house legal departments to guide larger client teams through the myriad complex business, legal, management, and operational issues that arise in every real estate transaction with an eye toward maximizing their rights, options, benefits, and control, while minimizing their time, costs, and liabilities.

Representative experience

• Retail and shopping center-related lease, development, purchase, sale, and portfolio management (including dispute resolution counseling) transactions for over 20 national and international companies (including anchor and junior anchor tenants, specialty retailers, grocery stores, movie theaters, car dealers, convenience stores, healthcare facilities, restaurants, and banks), including single asset and portfolio transactions totaling more than 25 million square feet, including handling and structuring all aspects of ground-up development, including related land use and entitlement matters, economic development incentives, environmental compliance and permitting, development agreements and construction, and operation and reciprocal easement agreements.
• Representation of a developer in connection with all aspects of the redevelopment and repositioning of a dead suburban shopping center, including all subdivision, development, construction, financing, and leasing for a 27-acre mixed-use development.
• Representation of several big box, department store, specialty retailer, healthcare facilities, and restaurants in connection with their rapid national expansion and store deployment strategy, including creating and leading national client teams, and creating and using best practices and process management tools and technology to ensure the seamless delivery of legal services in support of the client’s strategy and requirements.
• Representation of a national department store chain in connection with the bankruptcy acquisition of a combination of fee and leasehold interests in 36 department stores across the country.
• The ground-up development of a new 22,000-seat open air sports and entertainment venue, including the negotiation of a complex sub-subground lease structure and all related land and facilities acquisition, development, leasing, license, and operation transactions and agreements for a Major League Soccer club.
• Global occupier and corporate real estate services for international technology, automotive, and real estate services companies, including various lease, operation, and disposition transactions with respect to their real estate assets in the US and abroad.
• Client team lead for an international healthcare company in connection with their acquisition, leasing, and development transactions for healthcare facilities in shopping centers and medical office buildings or adjacent to hospitals across the country.
• Representation of a fast-casual restaurant company with a rapid national expansion, including working with client executives, internal real estate, construction and design teams, and external consultants to create best practice procedures and protocols to facilitate their new restaurant deployment strategy and requirements while preserving diligence in the leasing and construction process to address and minimize budget, time, and opening risk issues.
• Complex lease and sublease transactions for both landlords, tenants and subtenants, including headquarter lease transactions, multi-building transactions, ground leases, build-to-suit and reverse build-to-suit leases, and sale-leaseback transactions.

Looking ahead

Through a confluence of events, including the recent pandemic, I see a resurgence of the suburbs and a millennial exodus from large cities. This will create more opportunities for developers to redevelop and reposition older shopping centers or malls into more destination and entertainment-oriented mixed and multi-use developments or alternative uses, including industrial, medical office, or data center uses. Now that employers have experienced and survived a remote work environment, I see companies incorporating remote work plans, which may have a positive impact on residential markets, including the development of multi-story residential projects with (or near) retail and other amenities to attract tenants, while the office market will likely suffer through a natural contraction of space needs over time as tenant leases expire or are terminated early through negotiated buy-outs. This may also create further redevelopment and repositioning opportunities for owners of suburban office buildings experiencing extensive vacancies and tenant defaults.