People
Lisa M. Zana

Lisa M. Zana

Partner

Lisa is co-chair of Shipman's Real Estate, Environmental, Energy, Land Use and Construction Department, and a partner in a national real estate practice that includes New York-trained lawyers who, like Lisa, practiced at large national and international law firms before joining Shipman. She is able to deliver incisive, strategic and efficient counsel to clients at a significantly lower cost than many local and national competitors.

Lisa’s commercial real estate clients are situated throughout the United States with a focus on New York’s tri-state area, and include private developers, public companies, institutional owners, banks and lessees of millions of square feet of real estate across the country in the luxury residential, mixed-use, retail, commercial office, data centers and colocation facilities, hotel and hospitality, health care and higher education industries.

Lisa’s specific experience and areas of focus include:

Representing public and private companies that use millions of square feet of real estate, in negotiating build-to-suit and credit-tenant office leases, development agreements and state tax incentive agreements
Structuring transactions having New York City-specific attributes, including the acquisition of development rights, utilizing mixed-use condominium units to maximize the value of an asset and taking full advantage of available mortgage recording tax savings
Acquiring, selling, financing and leasing data centers and colocation facilities
Negotiating ground leases
Negotiating retail leases on behalf of developers and the end retail users
Arranging for and negotiating debt and equity financing
Negotiating corporate- and property-level acquisitions and sales
Advising clients on the redevelopment of their retail and hotel properties, residential, office, industrial and warehouse facilities; corporate campuses, shopping centers and mixed-use projects.

Credentials

Education

Yale University, B.A., 1995
Duke University, J.D., 1998, cum laude

Bar Admissions

New York, 1999
Connecticut, 2009

Distinctions

Listed in Chambers USA, Real Estate (2024)
Listed in The Best Lawyers in America®: Real Estate Law (2024-2025)
Listed as a Connecticut Super Lawyer Rising Star®: Real Estate; 2013

Professional Affiliations

Connecticut Bar Association
New York State Bar Association
CREW Network Retail Council (Commercial Real Estate Women)
CREW-NY (Commercial Real Estate Women – New York)

Community Involvement

Catechism Teacher, St. Francis

Experience

Real estate

Chirisa Capital $5.5 million Purchase of 71,000-square-foot Property

Represented Chirisa Capital, a real estate investment company that focuses on data centers and tech parks, in its purchase of a 71,000-square-foot property in Freeport, Pennsylvania for $5.5 million from BNY Mellon. Chirisa plans to repurpose the existing structure for housing critical infrastructure and data storage. The 37-acre site includes 175 parking spots and a one-story building set up for data-hosting services, which was vacant at the time of sale. The building formerly housed data-hosting services for BNY Mellon.

Secured a $102 Million Construction Loan

Represented real estate developer in securing a $102 million construction loan for a multi-building, mixed-use office, retail and residential project in Connecticut. The transaction also included $56 million in CPACE financing, which is the largest in Connecticut to date.

Represented LEGO Group in the Closing of a Commercial Lease Agreement for New Headquarters

Represented Danish toymaker, LEGO Group, in the negotiation of a 130,000 square foot commercial lease agreement for LEGO’s new American headquarters located in Boston, Massachusetts. The site was an under-construction, air-rights project that bridged the Back Bay and Fenway neighborhoods in Boston.