Michael Polentz

Michael Polentz is a partner in the Silicon Valley office of Manatt, Phelps & Phillips LLP and leads Manatt Real Estate. He focuses his practice on acquisition, leasing, land use, development, construction, alternative energy, and business and commercial law. 

Poelntz represents buyers, sellers, investors, lenders, developers and contractors in commercial, office, industrial, single-family and multifamily residential, vineyard/winery, hotel, fractional interest, infrastructure, and alternative energy transactions. He regularly negotiates and documents transactional, development, construction, acquisition, disposition, public-private partnership, power purchase and financing documents, and performs and manages complex due diligence investigations. In addition, he advises clients on CEQA compliance and growth control measures, development conditions and exactions, redevelopment, zoning, rezoning, subdivisions, planning, variances, annexations and construction. 

Polentz has extensive experience in negotiating and documenting commercial, retail, industrial and residential space; ground, out-parcel, in-line, single-tenant and multitenant leases; and built-to-suit transactions for landlords, tenants and brokers. He advises Fortune 100 clients throughout the United States with their real estate portfolios and has recently closed over 50 large office, industrial and R&D leases totaling five million square feet, including significant build-to-suit and lease purchase options, with lease and tenant improvement values exceeding $3 billion in the aggregate. 

He’s also well versed in the formation of partnerships, corporations and limited liability companies; general corporate governance; negotiating and preparing joint venture, merger, acquisition, buy-sell and employment agreements; assisting in securing licenses and regulatory approvals from federal and state agencies; and negotiating and preparing distribution, supply, marketing, intellectual property, joint venture and vendor agreements. 

These are some of the reasons that we named Polentz to our California grouping of Lawyers in Real Estate. These are real estate attorneys who have distinguished themselves in both their practice and the larger community.