Commercial Real Estate Counsel

Leases That Protect.
Deals That Close.
Assets That Recover.

JB Summers PLLC represents landlords, tenants, investors, and lenders in high-volume commercial leasing across office, industrial, and retail properties nationwide — and in distressed real estate restructuring across New York, New Jersey, and Florida.

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What We Do
Two practices. One perspective.
Twenty years of litigating deals gone wrong taught us how to structure deals that don't. We bring a litigator's eye to every lease and a dealmaker's pragmatism to every dispute.
01

Commercial Leasing

We draft, negotiate, and close commercial leases for landlords, tenants, and franchisees across office, industrial, retail, warehouse, and mixed-use properties nationwide. From single-unit franchise buildouts to portfolio-wide lease audits, we handle high volume without sacrificing precision.

  • NNN, gross, and modified gross lease drafting and negotiation
  • Retail and restaurant lease structuring
  • Franchise and multi-unit operator lease programs
  • Landlord-side portfolio leasing
  • Lease amendments, renewals, and early terminations
  • Sublease, assignment, and license agreements
  • Lease audits and rent escalation review
  • CAM reconciliation and operating expense disputes
02

Distressed Assets & Transactions

When a deal is in trouble — or when you're acquiring one that is — we bring structure to chaos. We represent borrowers, investors, and rescue capital providers in workouts, restructurings, and complex acquisitions where legal execution is the difference between recovery and loss.

  • Loan workouts, modifications, and forbearance agreements
  • Rescue capital and preferred equity structuring
  • Distressed asset acquisitions and dispositions
  • C-PACE financing and retrofit transactions
  • Lender negotiations and receivership defense
  • Joint venture and co-investment agreements
  • Entity structuring and capital stack design
  • Commercial real estate litigation and enforcement
Who We Serve
Built for principals, not bystanders.
Our clients are the people making decisions — signing leases, deploying capital, restructuring debt. We work directly with the principal, not through layers.

Landlords & Owners

Portfolio-wide leasing counsel for commercial property owners. Lease drafting, tenant negotiations, default enforcement, and repositioning strategies.

Tenants & Operators

Lease review and negotiation for businesses expanding or relocating. We protect your operating economics from hidden lease provisions that erode margins.

Franchisees

Site selection counsel and lease negotiation for single and multi-unit franchise operators. We know what franchisors require and what landlords concede.

CRE Investors

Acquisition counsel for value-add and distressed commercial properties. From LOI through closing, with entity structuring and capital stack design.

Rescue Capital Providers

Preferred equity, mezzanine, and bridge loan structuring for capital deployed into distressed or transitional assets. We protect your downside position.

Lenders & Servicers

Workout counsel for lenders managing non-performing commercial real estate loans. Forbearance, modification, and enforcement strategies.

Our Approach
A litigator who does deals.
A dealmaker who litigates.

Most commercial lease attorneys have never litigated a lease dispute. Most CRE litigators have never structured a deal. We've done both — for over twenty years. That dual perspective means every lease we draft anticipates the fight, and every workout we negotiate is informed by what happens when negotiation fails. We move fast, keep our advice practical, and charge rates that reflect direct, efficient counsel — not BigLaw overhead.

20+
Years in commercial
real estate law
National
Leasing counsel nationwide
NY barred, NJ & FL by reciprocity
Direct
Principal-led, efficient,
no layers, no handoffs
Frequently Asked
Common questions.
We handle NNN, gross, modified gross, ground leases, and license agreements across office, industrial, retail, warehouse, and mixed-use properties nationwide. We represent both landlords and tenants, including national franchise operators, restaurant groups, and institutional owners with multi-property portfolios.
Yes. We represent landlords in portfolio-wide leasing programs and tenants — including franchisees and independent operators — in individual lease negotiations. This dual perspective gives each client the advantage of knowing how the other side thinks, what they'll push on, and where there's room to negotiate.
A workout is a negotiated restructuring of a troubled commercial real estate loan or asset. It can involve loan modifications, forbearance agreements, deed-in-lieu transactions, rescue capital infusions, or full asset restructurings. The goal is to preserve value and avoid the destruction of a foreclosure or forced sale. We represent borrowers, investors, and capital providers in these situations.
C-PACE (Commercial Property Assessed Clean Energy) provides long-term, non-recourse financing for energy and resilience improvements to commercial properties. For distressed assets, C-PACE can be a powerful tool to fund necessary capital improvements — HVAC, roofing, electrical — without diluting equity or adding recourse debt. We structure C-PACE transactions as part of broader value recovery strategies.
We are actively barred in New York and handle commercial leasing matters for clients nationwide across office, industrial, and retail properties. For litigation and distressed asset work, we practice in New York, New Jersey, and Florida through reciprocity and pro hac vice admission as needed.
We offer hourly, flat-fee, and hybrid arrangements depending on the matter. Lease negotiations are typically flat-fee or capped-fee. Litigation and complex transactions are billed hourly at rates that reflect the efficiency of a solo practitioner with senior-level experience — significantly below BigLaw rates for equivalent work.
Get in Touch
Josh Summers, Esq.
Principal Attorney
Email
josh@summerspllc.com
Phone
(516) 330-3320
Office

1249 Broadway, Suite 200
Hewlett, New York 11557

Commercial leasing counsel nationwide. Distressed asset and litigation counsel across New York, New Jersey, and Florida.