Dean Pappas

Dean Pappas

Partner
Dean Pappas
Los Angeles
+1 213 426 2525

Dean Pappas, a partner in Goodwin's Real Estate Industry group, has extensive experience with real estate and corporate transactions. Dean is a member of the American College of Real Estate Lawyers (ACREL).

He has been consistently recognized as one of the top real estate attorneys in California by Chambers USA: America’s Leading Lawyers for Business, where one client highlighted “the thoroughness of his analyses, his breadth of knowledge, negotiation capabilities and responsiveness.”

Dean’s practice involves structuring, negotiating, drafting and closing various real estate and corporate transactions, including joint venture formation (partnerships and limited liability companies), merger, acquisition and disposition transactions, and construction, mortgage and mezzanine loans, and other various transactions.

Dean formerly served as Chair of the firm’s Los Angeles office.

Experience

Dean’s recent experience includes representing:

  • Essex Property Trust in its $15.4 billion merger with BRE Properties, creating the nation’s only publicly traded West Coast multifamily REIT and the third-largest multifamily REIT in the country
  • Clarion in connection to the formation of a joint venture with an affiliate of Alliance Residential Company in the acquisition of approximately five acres of land with existing commercial improvements in the City of Laguna Niguel and the $107.7 million development on the property of a luxury multifamily/apartment project
  • A major financial institution in connection with the acquisition of a portfolio of 15 retail centers which included 147 assets, composed of industrial, multifamily, hotels and office buildings for approximately $2.2 billion
  • A major international real estate advisor in documenting and implementing its multi-family equity up-front joint venture program throughout the U.S. and closing over $1 billion of multifamily joint venture transactions through this program over the past three years
  • Primestor Development, Inc. in the formation of a platform joint venture with Community Retail Development Fund valued at $185 million to develop and operate both core and non-core retail projects, including the Azalea Regional Shopping Center in South Gate, California
  • MacFarlane Urban Realty Company, LLC in the closing of the $950 million real estate joint venture for the development of the LA Live JW Marriott and Ritz-Carlton Hotel and Ritz-Carlton. The project will consist of a 54-story building comprised of an 877-room JW Marriott, a 124-room Ritz-Carlton, related hotel ballroom space and 224 Ritz-Carlton condos
  • JF Shea in the formation of a development joint venture with Ivanhoe Cambridge. The joint venture plans to develop Hitachi Transit Village, which will be a 648-unit multifamily project in San Jose, California valued at approximately $172 million
  • Brookfield Office Properties in connection with the acquisition of seven downtown LA high-rise office buildings from Maguire Properties, Inc. valued at $2.2 billion

Professional Activities

Dean is a member of ACREL and serves as a member of ACREL’s Program Committee. He is also a member of the USC Gould School of Law - Los Angeles County Bar Association's Real Estate Law and Business Forum Planning Committee and the Real Property Law Section of the State Bar of California.

Professional Experience

Prior to joining Goodwin, Dean was a partner in the Los Angeles office of Mayer, Brown, Rowe & Maw LLP, where he was the Office Practice Leader for the LA Real Estate Group. Before that, he practiced with O'Melveny & Myers LLP.

Credentials

Education

JD1991

University of Southern California

(Order of the Coif)

BS1988

University of Southern California

Admissions

Bars

  • California

Recognition & Awards

Dean was recognized by Chambers USA 2022 and 2023 for his work in Real Estate. Dean has been recognized by The Best Lawyers in America Best Lawyers for his work in Real Estate Law 2022-2023.

Dean was recently included in the Los Angeles Business Journal's “Who’s Who in L.A. Law: Angelenos to Know in Real Estate Law” and has been listed in Chambers USA: America’s Leading Lawyers for Business, U.S. News-Best Lawyers and The Legal 500 U.S. in the specialty of Real Estate Law, Madison’s International Who’s Who of Real Estate Lawyers and The International Who’s Who of Business Lawyers. He has also been recognized as a “Southern California Super Lawyer” by Law & Politics magazine.

Dean’s work on the J.W. Marriott and Ritz-Carlton Hotel and Ritz-Carlton Residences at L.A. Live was recognized by Real Estate Forum as a 2008 “Deal of the Year” in the development category and was featured on the cover of the issue.

Publications

Dean is the author of:

  • “Syndication Nation: Borrower Issues in Syndicated Loans,” REsource: A Goodwin Procter Publication for the Real Estate Industry (Summer 2013)
  • “Issues in Joint Venture Capitalization: May I Have Some More, Please?,” REsource: A Goodwin Procter Publication for the Real Estate Industry (Spring 2008)
  • “Constructing and Modernizing Our Public Schools,” California Real Property Journal (Spring 2003)
  • “The Independent Sector and the Tax Laws: Defining Charity in an Ideal Democracy,” Southern California Law Review (January 1991)

He has also been sourced or quoted in several publications, including the Los Angeles Business Journal, Real Estate Southern California, Real Estate Forum, Los Angeles Times and GlobeSt.com.

Dean has delivered numerous lectures and presentations, including:

  • “Reassessing Core vs. Value-Add vs. Opportunistic Investing for 2014,” 11th Annual IMN Winter Real Estate Opportunity Fund Forum (January 2014)
  • "Commercial Real Estate Financing 2012: Getting Back to Business," PLI Seminar (February 2012)
  • "Dealing with Troubled Assets: The Equity Holder/Buyer Perspective," IMN Winter Forum on Real Estate Opportunity & Private Fund Investing (January 2012)
  • "Negotiating the Joint Venture Agreement: Contributions, Exit Rights and Related Remedies," Diamonds in the Rough: Finding Opportunities in a Changing Market sponsored by State Bar of California Real Property Law Section (April 2011)
  • “Building Owners at Risk: Surviving Distress,” GlobeSt.com webcast (May 2009)
  • Additional presentations before the Los Angeles County Bar Association, the American College of Real Estate Lawyers (ACREL), the California Association of School Business Officials (CASBO), the USC Gould School of Law, the UCLA School of Law, the UCLA Anderson School of Management, the IMN Western Borrowers' & Investors’ Forum on Real Estate Mezzanine Loans.

While attending law school, Dean served as notes editor of the USC Law Review.