Paul F. Wells | Lippes Mathias LLP

Bio

Paul Wells is a highly experienced commercial real estate attorney with more than 30 years of experience handling sophisticated commercial real estate matters. He serves as the firm’s Real Estate Practice Team Leader and is a member of the firm's Executive Committee. Before joining Lippes Mathias as a partner, Paul spent 11 years as Regional General Counsel of Benderson Development, one of the largest privately owned real estate development companies in the United States.

Paul has a national, broad-based practice advising REITs, private and institutional owners and investors, developers, independent sponsors, landlords, tenants, and private funds on complex real estate and corporate transactions. He takes a business-oriented approach, aligning legal strategy with each client’s business objectives. His practice encompasses acquisitions and dispositions, development, financing, leasing, joint ventures, and equity investments in real estate. He represents public and private owners of retail centers, hotels, office and industrial buildings, mixed-use properties, self-storage facilities, and mobile home parks, with particular emphasis on grocery-anchored shopping centers. Paul also has substantial experience negotiating franchise, license, and operating agreements with national hotel chains, including Marriott, Hilton, Choice, and InterContinental Hotels Group (IHG).

Paul is recognized in Chambers USA and The Legal 500 U.S. Elite and holds an AV Preeminent rating from Martindale-Hubbell. He is also listed annually in The Best Lawyers in America and New York Super Lawyers.

Representative Matters:

Represented a public REIT in connection with its $425 million acquisition and financing of a 14-property shopping-center portfolio comprising more than 2.5 million square feet.
Represented a private developer in negotiating an anchor-tenant lease with a national supermarket chain for the retail component of its mixed-use development in downtown Chicago.
Represented a manufacturing client in negotiating a lease for a 197,000-square-foot industrial warehouse.
Represented a private developer in the sale of a $2.3 billion national portfolio of 110 shopping centers.
Represented an independent sponsor in the formation of two private funds and their subsequent acquisition of 14 single-tenant, triple-net properties.
Ongoing representation of a client in connection with leasing activities focused on grocery-anchored retail and office development, including leasing and asset-management matters for a U.S. retail portfolio valued at $2.4 billion and comprising 117 properties with more than 15.3 million square feet of retail and mixed-use space, and a U.S. office portfolio valued at $340 million and comprising major metropolitan office buildings with more than 1.0 million square feet of office and mixed-use space.

ADMITTED TO PRACTICE

New York
Florida
Certified Public Accountant (Inactive)

Education

Fordham University School of Law, J.D., 1993
University of Dayton, B.S., 1985

Honors & Awards

Legal 500 U.S. Elite, Real Estate (New York), 2026
The Best Lawyers in America©, 2015-2026
Upstate New York Super Lawyers®, 2016-2025
Chambers USA: America’s Leading Lawyers for Business, Real Estate (Upstate New York)
AV Preeminent Rating®, Martindale-Hubbell

Community Involvement