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 US, and Lend Lease Corporation as developer of a new state-of-the-art cruise terminal and mixed-use project on the San Francisco waterfront.

Prior to joining Sheppard Mullin, Ms. Story was the Managing Partner of the San Francisco office of Pettit & Martin.

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

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 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 Super Lawyers, San Francisco Magazine, 2007, 2006, 2005, 2004
• America's Leading Business Lawyers, Transactions and Finance, 2007
• Northern California Top 50 Women Lawyers, San Francisco Magazine, 2006, 2005
• Who's Who Legal, International & USA Real Estate, 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, Northern California, Trust for Public Land's California Advisory Board
• Board Member, UC Davis Law School Alumni Association

Articles

• Clean Investing, October 29, 2003

• Contributing author to and an update editor for CEB’s Office Leasing: Drafting and Negotiating the Lease

Speeches

• She has lectured for California Continuing Education of the Bar, Practicing 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, hazardous materials issues in real property transactions, real estate construction lending, negotiation of commercial leases, purchase and sale transactions and the art of negotiation.