Joan H. Story

Joan H. Story is a partner in the Real Estate, Land Use and Environmental Practice Group in Sheppard Mullin’s San Francisco office and a member of the firm's Executive Committee.

Areas of Practice

Ms. Story’s practice emphasizes real estate investment, financing and leasing transactions.  Her clients include developers, institutional and foreign investors, corporate real estate users, pension funds and pension fund advisors and lenders.  Her experience encompasses land acquisition and development, construction, permanent and tax-exempt financings, joint venture and limited liability entity formation, acquisition and disposition of commercial properties, leasing and other portfolio management issues, as well as loan and partnership workouts.  She has developed a particular expertise in the hospitality area and in the structuring of Islamic investment in US real estate. 

Ms. Story's clients include DHL Express, for whom she handles leasing, facilities development and related financing matters throughout the United States; Lend Lease Corporation as developer of a proposed state-of-the-art cruise terminal and mixed-use project on the San Francisco waterfront; and MacArthur Transit Community Partners, the developer of a 624 residential unit transit village.

Education

• J.D., University of California, Davis, 1977
• M.A., University of California, Los Angeles, 1967
• B.A., Occidental College, 1965

Admissions

• California

Representative Transactions

Represent MacArthur Transit Community Partners, a partnership composed of an affiliate of BRIDGE Housing Corporation and McGrath Properties, Inc., in developing the MacArthur BART Transit Village. The 624 residential unit project includes the construction of a BART Garage on land to be acquired for BART; a 90-unit, below-market rental phase to be constructed on land ground-leased from BART and constructed by BRIDGE Housing; and three market-rate phases with market-rate and below-market condominiums, 4,500 sq. ft. of retail and commercial space, 5,000 sq. ft. of community space, and related off-site improvements. Funding for the project will be derived from a combination of Proposition 1C grants, a federal transportation grant, tax-increment financing and private debt capital. Serve as primary negotiator for all transactional documentation, including an Owner Participation Agreement with the Redevelopment Agency, and an Option Agreement and related documents with BART for the acquisition and lease of portions of the BART property and construction of the improvements.

Retail counsel to the Transbay Joint Powers Authority in connection with the master lease of all retail, restaurant and entertainment spaces for the new San Francisco Transbay Terminal.

Represented DHL Express in connection with a major expansion of its primary hub at Wilmington, OH and the financing of the expansion through private activity bonds issued by the Dayton Montgomery County Port Authority.

Represented DHL Express in ground-leasing, constructing and financing a number of regional distribution and sortation facilities, including the development, installation and financing either through private activity bonds or leveraged leases of state-of-the-art sort systems.

Represented Lend Lease Corporation in connection with the development of the Watermark luxury high-rise condominium project and the negotiation of a development and disposition agreement and related ground lease for the development of a proposed mixed-use cruise ship terminal facility to be located on Piers 30-32 in San Francisco.

Represented investment groups acquiring and selling commercial real estate assets and portfolios, including ownership interests in the Santa Barbara Biltmore Hotel, the Parker House in Boston and the Parc 55 Hotel in San Francisco.

Represent major international spirits companies in connection with the acquisition, sale and lease of vineyard properties and wineries in the Napa and Sonoma Valleys and elsewhere in California.

Honors

• Northern California Leading Real Estate Lawyers, Transactions and Finance, The Legal 500, 2010, 2009, 2008, 2007
• Who's Who Legal: California, 2009, 2008
• Northern California Super Lawyers, San Francisco Magazine, 2010, 2008, 2007, 2006, 2005, 2004
• Northern California Top 50 Women Lawyers, San Francisco Magazine, 2006, 2005
• Who's Who Legal, International & USA Real Estate, 2009, 2008, 2007, 2006, 2005, 2004

Memberships

• Member, American College of Real Estate Lawyers
• Member, Lambda Alpha, the honorary land economics society
• Member, Real Estate Law Advisory Committee, Practicing Law Institute
• Co-Chair, Trust for Public Land's California Advisory Board

Articles

• Clean Investing, October 29, 2003

• Peeking Under the Covers: Due Diligence in Hotel Transactions, California Real Property Reporter, July 1996
• Contributing author to and an update editor for CEB’s Office Leasing: Drafting and Negotiating the Lease
• Contributing author to CEB's Ground Lease Practice, 2009

Speeches

• Ms. Story has lectured for California Continuing Education of the Bar, Practising Law Institute, CLE International and other groups on subjects of concern to real estate practitioners, including structuring of joint ventures and mixed debt/equity investments; public-private partnerships; hazardous materials issues in real property transactions; real estate construction lending; negotiation of commercial leases, purchase and sale transactions; representing borrowers in loan transactions; and the art of negotiation.