Gregg Dorman

Gregg Dorman is a partner in Nixon Peabody’s Real Estate group and has more than 35 years of experience representing sellers, purchasers, landlords, tenants, owners, investors, and developers on real estate transactions across industries and asset types, including retail, office, industrial, mixed-used, healthcare, entertainment, and sports venue projects.

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.

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.