Geoff Howell concentrates his practice on real estate development, finance and leasing.

He has represented regional and national lenders, owners and developers, as well as public agencies, in a broad variety of complex commercial real estate transactions, including the development, financing, leasing and operation of mixed-use office and laboratory parks, hotels, green buildings, and multi-tenant and build-to-suit office and lab buildings; like-kind exchanges; the development of a national rooftop leasing program; permitting of one of the largest residential developments in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts; the redevelopment of an urban renewal project into one of Massachusetts' largest biomedical laboratory facilities; and the acquisition of a horse-racing track. His leasing work includes the largest commercial lease in the history of The Commonwealth of Massachusetts (1.3 million square feet for office and lab use) on behalf of the landlord.

Mr. Howell has made several appearances in front of the Boston Redevelopment Authority, Boston Zoning Board of Appeals, and other permitting bodies in Boston and the surrounding area on behalf of project proponents. He is leasing counsel for numerous office and laboratory tenants and represents landlords at major laboratory complexes throughout the country.

Mr. Howell's pro bono work includes the representation of the Massachusetts Affordable Housing Alliance in the acquisition and development of its new headquarters building in the Dorchester section of Boston and the representation of several local non-profits in leasing matters. He is also a team leader in the firm's signature pro bono project with the Massachusetts Advocates for Children, focusing in particular on research and advocacy in support of special education for autistic students.

Mr. Howell serves on the executive committee of the board of directors of MassEcon. Mr. Howell is a member of the Boston Bar Association. Prior to attending law school, he was a staff writer for the Trenton Times.

The respected English research firm Chambers & Partners has listed Mr. Howell in Chambers USA: America's Leading Lawyers for Business as one of the country's leading real estate lawyers, calling him "a superb transactional attorney with a real gift for negotiations" and quoting clients who praise him for his handling of leasing matters and his "fantastic grip on the commercial reality of transactions." He has been named a Massachusetts Super Lawyer in commercial real estate by Law & Politics magazine and listed in The Best Lawyers in America.

Representative Matters

• Landlord's counsel for the largest lease in the history of Massachusetts, a 1.3 million square foot office and laboratory lease in two new buildings to be constructed on the Boston waterfront
• Tenant's counsel for a Fortune 100 company leasing 180,000 rentable square feet of office and lab space in Cambridge on a build-to-suit basis
• Lender's counsel for two institutional lenders making a US$230 million permanent loan secured by a first-class mixed office and retail complex in Boston
• Owner's and developer's counsel for a proposed 1.5 million square foot mixed use project on the City of Boston waterfront
• Counsel for a quasi-public state agency in the development and ground lease of a 50,000 square foot wind technology testing facility in the City of Boston
• Counsel for a quasi-public stage agency in the long-term lease and development of broadband infrastructure serving western Massachusetts, as well as other real estate matters
• Borrower's counsel for US$260 million in construction and permanent financing for 900,000 square feet of new and redeveloped office and laboratory space in a suburban mixed use project
• Borrower's counsel for a US$250 million construction loan for 400,000 square feet of new office and laboratory space in an urban mixed use project
• Landlord's counsel in the negotiation of a build-to-suite lease for 325,000 square feet of office space in a suburban office park
• Landlord's counsel in the negotiation of a lease for 350,000 square feet of medical office and laboratory space in a multi-tenant environment
• Purchaser's counsel in the acquisition of select single-tenant properties throughout New England as part of a new investment portfolio
• Owner and developer's counsel in the acquisition, construction, leasing and disposition of a 225,000 square foot office building constructed in suburban Boston
• Owner's counsel for the leasing and disposition of a 419,000 square foot Class B office building converted to telecommunications use
• Owner's counsel for the acquisition, permitting, re-development and leasing of a 55,000 square foot downtown Boston office and light manufacturing building
• Tenant's counsel for a national management consulting firm in its lease negotiations in New York City, San Francisco, Boston and Atlanta
• Tenant's counsel for numerous technology-based clients in the greater Boston area
• Tenant's and owner's counsel for a publicly traded Fortune 500 investment bank with respect to numerous portfolio properties, including headquarters buildings in Boston and Quincy, Massachusetts
• Owner and developer's counsel in the construction and mezzanine debt financing and development of a 300-room hotel in the City of Boston
• Lender's counsel to a Massachusetts-based real estate development and investment firm in the roll-out of a national leasehold financing mechanism
• Acquisition counsel for a state employees pension fund in the purchase of a regional shopping center
• Investor's counsel in the formation of a joint venture to control the six-acre site of a proposed mixed use project in a suburb of Washington, DC, including the negotiation of a 60-year ground lease for the project site
• Leasing counsel for several major office and/or laboratory buildings and parks in Andover, Boston, Cambridge and Waltham, Massachusetts, suburban Chicago, Baltimore and southern Connecticut