Deborah Leigh Goldman, Real Estate Attorney in New York

Deborah Goldman brings advanced communication skills, an MBA in real estate finance and 30+ years of legal knowledge and experience to every stage and facet of commercial real estate transactions across the United States. She handles sales and acquisitions, financing, leasing, subleasing, brokerage agreements, construction contracts, and hotel transactions and development with precision and efficiency. Debbie represents property owners, developers, borrowers, lenders, investors, and tenants in negotiating and structuring complex real estate deals.

Debbie has been serving as Co-Chair of the Commercial Leasing Committee of the Real Property Section of the New York State Bar Association since 2015. She is a frequent speaker at continuing legal education events and has served as an Adjunct Professor teaching Real Estate Transactions at Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law and Fordham University School of Law, and Commercial Real Estate Leasing at St. John’s University School of Law.

Concentrations

• Commercial office, retail and shopping center leasing, representing both landlords and tenants, managing the process from drafting and negotiating the letter of intent to final lease execution.

• Ground and triple net leasing, for both landlords and tenants, including for battery energy storage facilities.

• Subleasing, representing sublandlords, subtenants and overlandlords.

• Mortgage and mezzanine financing, representing both lenders and borrowers.

• Sales and acquisitions of commercial (including hotels) and residential properties, including 1031 exchanges.

• Commercial real estate brokerage agreements, representing both brokers and owners, for leasing and sales.

• Subordination, attornment and non-disturbance agreements, representing lenders, tenants, and condominiums.

• Construction agreements and other forms of real estate agreements.

• Establishing corporations, partnerships, and limited liability companies, including drafting and negotiating operating agreements.

Experience

Leasing

• Represented Covington & Burling LLP, as its sole outside counsel, on a 235,000 square feet office sublease and follow-on direct lease at Hudson Yards in Manhattan, which included complex negotiations due to the structure of transitioning from a sublease to a direct lease, the client’s extensive build-out of the premises, owner’s multiple layers of financing and the premises being located in a commercial condominium unit within the building.°

• Advised a global professional services firm in connection with the negotiation of its lease of 800,000 sf in Manhattan.°

• Represented IMCMV Holdings Inc., the owner and operator of Margaritaville casual-dining venues in the United States, Puerto Rico and Panama, in the negotiation of its lease and amendments for numerous floors at the Margaritaville Times Square Hotel, and various other locations.°

• Represented Blue Note Entertainment Group in the negotiation and drafting of its lease and various amendments for Sony Hall at the Paramount Hotel in midtown Manhattan, and with respect to the leasing of retail premises at its building in Greenwich Village to (a) Realmuto Hospital Group for a new Sicilian restaurant, and (b) TMPL Fitness for a luxury gym and health club.°

• Represented Cinemex, a Mexican cineplex company and the owner of CMX Cinemas, as its outside counsel managing and negotiating all real estate aspects of its movie theatres in the USA, including leases (both ground and retail), guaranties, construction contracts and contracts of sale for the purchase of numerous additional theatre locations throughout the United States.°

• Represented Petitioner in a $50MM arbitration dispute on the petitioner’s good guy guaranty in New York City as an expert witness.°

• Represented C.H. Martin, Inc., as landlord, in connection with its leasing of stores in Elizabeth, NJ, New Brunswick, NJ and the Bronx.°

• Represented a national restaurant chain in the negotiation of its lease at The Shops at Columbus Circle, Manhattan.°

• Represented a Danish bakery chain in the negotiation and drafting of two leases for locations in Manhattan.°

• Represented a new plant-based casual restaurant chain in the negotiation and drafting of two leases for new locations in Manhattan.°

• Represented The Stahl Organization, as the owner of 277 Park Avenue in Manhattan, in connection with brokerage agreements, leases and amendments ranging from 23,000 sf to nearly 900,000 sf.°

• Represented the ground landlord in the drafting and negotiation of a ground lease of 13 parcels of land in Brooklyn to MicroGrid Networks, a developer of battery energy storage systems.°

• Represented The New York Foundling, a non-profit company, in the negotiation of (a) numerous leases of premises throughout New York (as tenant) to be used as for offices, mental health counseling, educational services, social services to children and their families, and for the operation of a non-profit foster care program, (b) licenses of certain of its premises to related entities, and (c) lease termination agreements.°

• Represented a major public company on the NASDAQ stock exchange in connection with its surrender of existing space and relocation to new premises of approximately 40,000 sf in midtown Manhattan, including miscellaneous construction contracts.°

• Represented a state of the art boxing studio and athletic performance facility as the tenant in the leasing of retail space at Westfield’s Century City in Los Angeles and World Trade Center.

• Represented a major owner/operator, as landlord, in connection with its retail lease to a major franchisee.°

• Represented numerous NY developers/owners and national publicly traded REITS (including The Mendik Company, Minskoff Equities, Vornado Realty, Boymelgreen Development, SL Green and Argent Ventures), as landlords, in connection with their retail leases to major franchisees and other retail tenants in shopping centers, residential buildings and office buildings all over the United States.°

• Represented numerous institutional banks, as tenants in connection with their leasing of locations throughout New York for their branch offices.°

• Represented a major public coffee company, as tenants, in connection with its leasing of retail locations throughout New York.°

• Represented a major restaurant franchisor in connection with its leasing of numerous retail locations.°

Sales and Acquisitions/Financing/Hotel/Construction Contracts

• Represented the seller in the negotiation and sale of two mixed-use buildings on the Upper East Side of Manhattan (in separate transactions).°

• Represented the purchaser in the negotiation and purchase of a triple net ground leased property to Murphys USA as part of a 1031 exchange in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, including reviewing all documentation (including, triple net leases, financial statements, CCRs [covenants, conditions and restrictions]) for hundreds of possible exchange properties.°

• Represented the purchaser in the negotiation and purchase of the Montauk Yacht Club.°

• Represented River City Land Investment in the purchase of Skyway Camping Resort, a 163.5 acre campground in Greenfield Park, New York, including the negotiation of its loan documents for the acquisition.°

• Represented a major national developer of FedEx facilities in the negotiation and closing of the purchase of properties for assemblage projects, the acquisition of a fee parcel as well as parcel under a ground lease, the negotiation of its financing documents with Wells Fargo and PNC Bank, and the sale of facilities after completion, all of which were for various locations in New York.°

• Represented C. H. Martin, Inc. in connection with its sale of stores in East Orange, NJ, Staten Island, New York, and New Brunswick, New Jersey.°

• Represented an international French bank, as lender, in both the refinancing of the Carlyle Hotel in Manhattan and multiple financings and refinancings for the acquisition and preliminary lease-up of the Miami Design District (including approval of all retail leases and negotiation of SNDAs with major luxury branded tenants).°

• Represented the purchaser of medical office buildings in Texas, including forming multi-investor LLC structures for purchase and a form lease for ongoing leasing activities in those buildings.°

• Represented the seller in the sale of a 50.1% interest in 550 Washington St., New York.°

• Represented a NY-based client in the disposition of $150 million of residential and commercial properties and drafted and negotiated letters of intent, contracts of sale, brokerage agreements, construction contracts, indemnity agreements and closing documents.°

• Represented The New York Foundling, a non-profit company, in the negotiation of construction contracts and architect agreements for the build-out of various new premises.°

• Represented a major international developer in (a) the negotiation of hotel management agreements for 4-star and 5-star hotels at a mixed-use development in Miami, and (b) the sale of the marina which was part of the mixed-use development.°

• Represented the owner of a former 5-star hotel in the Berkshires, Massachusetts in the negotiation of a hotel management agreement.°

• Led the disposition for Starwood Hotels and Resorts of $500 million of hotel properties and assets to help new focus on brand development and recognition and directed outside counsels’ roles in connection therewith.°

°The above representations were handled by Ms. Goldman prior to her joining Greenberg Traurig, LLP.

In-House Experience

• General Counsel/Director, C.H. Martin, Inc., 2001-2004

• Associate General Counsel/Director of Development, Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide, Inc., 1999-2000

Teaching Experience

• Adjunct Professor of Commercial Real Estate Leasing, St. John’s University School of Law, 2024

• Adjunct Professor of Real Estate Transactions, Fordham University School of Law, 2018-2020

• Adjunct Professor of Real Estate Transactions, Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law, 2017

Recognition & Leadership

Professional & Community Involvement

• Member, New York State Bar Association, Real Property Section 2005-Present

o Executive Committee (Co-Chair, Commercial Leasing Committee), 2015-Present

• Member, International Council of Shopping Centers, 2014-Present

• Member of the American Bar Association

• Member of GirlGang Commercial Real Estate

• Member of Columbia Business School Alumni Club of New York