Lee is a talented and conscientious attorney who leverages a broad base of experience in various aspects of real estate law to help clients anticipate and address potential issues before they arise. Lee uses his unique ability to break down and explain complex legal topics to help clients understand their options, make informed decisions, and achieve optimal results.
Lee advises clients – including public entities, private landowners, and brokers – with respect to leases and purchase and sale agreements, as well as complex covenants, conditions, and restrictions (CC&Rs), easements, licenses, loan documents, settlements and other agreements pertaining to real property. In addition to his transactional experience, Lee has broad expertise in land use and environmental law, and he has helped guide development projects of all sizes through complex entitlement processes throughout Southern California.
Prior to joining Harvest, Lee was an associate at Crosbie Gliner Schiffman Southard & Swanson LLP (CGS3) where he advised clients on all aspects of commercial real estate law. Lee gained experience advising municipalities and other public entities with Los Angeles-based Richards, Watson & Gershon, and built his land use expertise at Harding Larmore Kutcher & Kozal in Santa Monica. He also gained in-house experience as a staff attorney for the California Association of Realtors, a statewide trade association for real estate professionals.
Lee’s writing on land use and real estate-related topics has appeared in publications including the California Real Property Journal, Multi-Housing News, the Daily Journal, and the Environmental Law Reporter.
Notable Deals
- Advised the owner of an office, research, and development project in Thousand Oaks, California, in complex negotiations with an adjacent landowner regarding uses permitted under applicable CC&Rs and negotiated an agreement allowing an adjacent auto dealer use on terms acceptable to the client.
- Assisted with the acquisition of a nearly 148,000-square-foot, multi-tenant industrial park in Poway, California.
- Assisted with sale of an approximately 60,000-square-foot creative office building in San Diego, California.
- Advised a client on the acquisition and potential redevelopment of a former department store property burdened by complex CC&Rs in Pleasanton, California.
- Assisted a creative office owner with complex lease negotiations for an approximately 22,800-square-foot space in Los Angeles, California.
- Advised an out-of-state developer on land use matters regarding the purchase of an entitled student housing project with an affordable housing component in San Diego, California.
- Advised a medical diagnostics firm in connection with its lease of a large manufacturing facility for COVID-19 testing kits.
- Assisted with entitlement and development agreement negotiations for a large mixed-use project in Santa Monica, California.
- Represented a private educational institution seeking approval for a campus expansion.
- Advised a property owner seeking approval of a condominium project by the California Coastal Commission.
- Negotiated a settlement agreement allowing a commercial property owner to retain access to emergency power from an offsite generator.
- Advised a municipality in negotiations for the renewal of a long-term ground lease for a hotel development.
- Helped a municipality negotiate a subsurface easement for a transportation research and development project.
Education
- J.D., UCLA School of Law
- B.A., Politics, New York University
Bar Admissions
- California
Involvements
- Los Angeles County Assessor’s Advisory Council
- Jewish Federation of Los Angeles – Real Estate & Construction Cabinet and Rautenberg New Leaders Project