Joanne Franzel is a partner in Gibson Dunn’s New York office. She is a member of Gibson Dunn’s Real Estate Practice Group.
Joanne’s practice has included all forms of real estate transactions, including acquisitions and dispositions and financing, with a particular focus on leasing, including large office leases often in new construction or with significant construction. She also has represented a number of clients in New York City real estate development, representing developers as well as users in various mixed-use projects, often with a significant public/private component.
Joanne has worked on various aspects of the Hudson Yards project, representing the developer, which is a joint venture of The Related Companies and Oxford Properties. Joanne’s involvement to date includes the equity transactions with Time Warner, KKR and Wells Fargo to move their respective corporate headquarters to 30 Hudson Yards, a 2.6 million square foot office tower adjacent to a retail shopping mall which opened in March of 2019. She also handled the land acquisition for 55 Hudson Yards and a lease with Milbank, Tweed, Hadley & McCloy to relocate its offices to the new building, and the anchor tenant lease with BlackRock for 50 Hudson Yards which was inked during the design phase of the project.
Subsequent to the opening of 30 Hudson Yards, Joanne worked with a team at Gibson Dunn to buy the 1.4 million square foot Warner Media unit (formerly Time Warner) and lease it back to Warner Media. In 2024, she led a team working with Related and Warner Media on two long term sublease-to-direct lease transactions covering in excess of 300,000 square feet within the Warner Media unit. Joanne also represented Related and Oxford in connection with the redevelopment and sale of the former Neiman Marcus store at 20 Hudson Yards to Wells Fargo, including development agreements to convert the retail space and 10th Avenue façade for use as commercial offices.
On the tenant side, Joanne was part of the team representing Macquarie in their new headquarters lease at 660 Fifth Avenue, which includes “top-of-house” signage. She also represented KKR in leasing several floors at 30 Hudson Yards from Related, and has handled numerous other commercial office leases for tenants in Manhattan in buildings such as 1 Vanderbilt, 550 Madison, 9 West 57th and 50 Hudson Yards ranging in size from 20,000 to 100,000 square feet.
Joanne represented Jamestown in the sale of Chelsea Market to Google, which was one of the largest NYC transactions of 2018. Prior to that, she represented Jamestown on numerous office and retail leases at Chelsea Market. Other transactions for Jamestown included the acquisition of 1250 Broadway, numerous office leases and restaurant lease for the top floor of the building, and 2016 sale of the building.
The Commercial Observer named Joanne one of five power lawyers of 2019 which recognizes attorneys “who are crucial to the real estate industry of New York” and “have become the authorities in their area.” She was recognized for being “instrumental in some of the city’s most notable recent deals” and for closing “one of the highest-profile transactions in the city.” In addition, Joanne was named to the elite group of 2018 Law360 MVPs in Real Estate, and as one of Real Estate Forum’s 2017 “Women of Influence,” a select group of 50 women who have significantly impacted commercial real estate.
Joanne received her Juris Doctor, cum laude, from the University of Pennsylvania in 1980. She received her Bachelor of Arts, cum laude, in 1977 from Brown University.
Capabilities
Credentials
Education:
- University of Pennsylvania - 1980 Juris Doctor
- Brown University - 1977 Bachelor of Arts
Admissions:
- New York Bar