Joseph E. Delaney

Joe Delaney focuses his practice on commercial real estate sale, leasing, and financing transactions. His experience includes the acquisition, leasing, disposition and financing of commercial office properties, and residential and mixed-use projects. Joe has represented landlords and tenants in leasing office, biomedical, and technology space. He has represented landlords in the lease of more than 7.5 million square feet of space in Seattle’s South Lake Union neighborhood and 3 million square feet in downtown Bellevue.

Joe also has experience in environmental law and land use and has represented clients in transactions involving contaminated properties.

Education

University of Washington, Certificate in Commercial Real Estate, 1998

Georgetown University Law Center, J.D., 1988, magna cum laude; Order of the Coif; member, Law and Policy in International Business; student member, American Inns of Court, William B. Bryant Chapter

University of Vermont, B.A., 1982

Admissions

Washington

United States District Court for the Western District of Washington

United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit

• Represented a real estate investor and developer on a deed in lieu of foreclosure transaction for a ~750,000 square foot office project.
• Represented a real estate investor and developer in the development, leasing and financing of over 2 million square feet of office in downtown Bellevue in 2020.
• Represented a real estate investor and developer in the $802 million sale of two lakefront blocks in Seattle’s South Lake Union neighborhood to a German investor. The sale price for the 635,000-square-foot property set a per-square-foot record for a Seattle office asset as of February 2022.
• Represented of a life science and technology real estate investment trust (REIT) in a $138 million acquisition of a 2.8-acre development site in Seattle, Washington.
• Represented a borrower in a significant capital loan ($300+ million) related to the office component of an extensive multi-use development.
• Represented purchasers and sellers in the purchase or sale of more than $5.5 billion of commercial real estate since December 2012, including:
  • Purchase of a 235,000-square-foot office building for $65 million for a U.S. insurance company (August 2018).
  • Purchase of a 714,000-square-foot office building for $359 million for a U.S. pension fund (July 2018).
  • Sale of a 375,000-square-foot office building for $330 million to a German-based fund (June 2017).
  • Sale of a 210,000-square-foot office building for $158 million to a U.S. pension fund (August 2017).
  • Sale of ground leases for several buildings totaling 316,000 square feet of lab and office space for $134 million (August 2016).
  • Sale of a 315,000-square-foot office building for $244 million to a New York-based investment fund (August 2016).
  • Sale of a 317,000-square-foot, 12-story building for $247 million to a Korea-based buyer (July 2016).
  • Sale of a 211,000-square-foot office building to a U.S. life insurance company for $134 million (February 2016).
  • Sale of a 395,000-square-foot office complex to a Germany-based fund for $299 million. (December 2015)
  • Sale of a 52,000-square-foot biomedical lab/office building for $41 million (August 2015).
  • Sale of a 20-acre office complex in Issaquah, Washington, for $128 million (July 2015).
  • Sale of a 315,000-square- foot office building to a U.S. partnership for $251 million (July 2015).
  • Sale of a 104,000-square-foot laboratory/office building to a REIT for $90 million (February 2015).
  • Sale in a single transaction of office buildings totaling approximately 1.6 million square feet to the buildings’ tenant for more than $1.1 billion (December 2012).
  • Sale of five apartment projects in the South Lake Union neighborhood, totaling 872 apartments, for a total of $521 million.
• Represented developers and purchasers in the negotiation and closing of 20 commercial real estate (office) and 10 residential real estate loans worth more than $3 billion. The transactions closed between September 2008 and August 2018.
• Since 2007, Represented landlords in the negotiation of more than 25 leases totaling more than 7.5 million square feet of space for tenants in Seattle’s South Lake Union neighborhood and 3 million square feet in downtown Bellevue.

Insights & Presentations

• “Regional Real Estate Practice Guide: Washington,” Chambers USA: Regional Real Estate guide, 2018
• “Wrap Up Case Studies: War Stories With Real Lessons,” Environmental Due Diligence, Law Seminars International, May 2016
• Co-chair and speaker, “Focus on an Ever-Shifting Landscape: Annual Spring Real Estate Update,” WSBA Real Property, Probate and Trust Section, April 2015

• Selected as one of “America’s Leading Lawyers for Business” (Washington) by Chambers USA (Real Estate), 2017–present
• Included in The Best Lawyers in America^® (Real Estate Law), 2008–present
• Recipient of Connect CRE’s Seattle & Northwest Lawyers in Real Estate Award, 2024
• Listed in Washington Super Lawyers^® (Real Estate), 2024–present
• Named Commercial Real Estate (CRE) Attorney of the Year in inaugural CRE Leadership Awards, Puget Sound Business Journal, 2019
• Selected to Best in the Business: Leading Lawyers in the Puget Sound Region, Seattle Business magazine, Real Estate, 2013
• Selected a Top Lawyer, Seattle Metropolitan magazine, 2010
• AV Preeminent^® Peer Review Rating^™ from Martindale-Hubbell

Professional

• Environmental Policy Committee, Greater Seattle Chamber of Commerce, Member
• Corporate Law Department; member, Environmental and Land Use Law Section, Washington State Bar Association, Member
• American Bar Association, Member
• King County Bar Association, Member