Downtown San Diego | San Diego County
Your attorney is already downtown, where your deal has to close
The office is at 2366 Front Street. The county recorder, the civil courts, and most of the escrow and title companies your transaction will touch are within a short walk. That is not a convenience detail. It is the reason documents get signed, recorded, and closed here without a week of shipping.
Downtown San Diego
Business and real estate counsel for Downtown San Diego
Downtown San Diego runs on transactions. Professional services firms in the towers along B Street and Broadway, hospitality and restaurant groups in the Gaslamp Quarter, tech and creative companies in East Village, and the family businesses that have anchored Little Italy for generations. What they have in common is a constant stream of leases, vendor agreements, partnership changes, and property deals.
I have practiced from downtown since 1994. Before that I spent nearly two decades inside a major financial institution as legal counsel and as director of strategic planning, and I served as president of a real estate development company. When a downtown client brings me a ground lease, a purchase agreement, or a partner buyout, I am reading it against three decades of watching how these specific kinds of deals close in this specific market.
What I See Here
The issues that come up most in Downtown
Downtown is where San Diego's commercial real estate concentrates, and it is where the pressure on lease terms is highest. Ground floor retail and restaurant space in the Gaslamp carries percentage rent structures and personal guaranties that owners sign without reading. Office tenants in the towers inherit operating expense escalations that compound quietly across a ten year term. East Village conversions and mixed use projects bring construction, permitting, and tenant improvement allowance disputes that belong in the lease long before they belong in a lawsuit.
- Restaurant and retail leases in the Gaslamp with percentage rent and personal guaranty terms
- Office lease review for tenants in the Broadway and B Street towers
- Entity formation and holding structures for downtown property investors
- Purchase and sale of downtown commercial and mixed use buildings
- Hospitality group partnership agreements and owner buyouts
- Tenant improvement allowance and construction obligation terms
- Assignment and change of control provisions when a downtown business is sold
- Vendor, supplier, and service agreements for professional services firms
Where Clients Are
Downtown areas this office serves
Clients come from across Downtown San Diego and the surrounding communities. Meetings happen at the downtown San Diego office, by phone, or by video, whichever suits you.
Commercial Areas
How It Works
Four steps, no mystery
The same process for every Downtown client, with the scope and the cost settled before any work begins.
The free consultation
Describe the Downtown matter in plain terms. There is no charge and no obligation, and you are speaking with the attorney rather than an intake screener. If you do not need a lawyer yet, I will say so.
Scope and cost agreed
Before work begins you get a clear description of what I will do and what it will cost. Defined work such as a formation or a document review is commonly handled on a flat fee.
The work gets done
Documents drafted, reviewed, redlined, negotiated, and filed, with plain language explanations of what each provision means for your business.
A relationship that continues
Most Downtown clients come back for the next lease, the next hire, and eventually the exit. Knowing your history is what makes the second matter faster than the first.
Can I meet you at your downtown office?
What should a Gaslamp restaurant owner watch for in a lease?
Do you handle deals for downtown condo and mixed use buildings?
Free Consultation
Free consultation for Downtown San Diego businesses
Bring the contract, the property, or the question. You will get a candid read on where you stand and what it would take, at no cost and with no obligation.
- Free consultation directly with the attorney
- Same business day response on most inquiries
- Serving San Diego County since 1994
- Clear scope and cost before any work begins
2366 Front Street, San Diego, CA 92101-1414
Monday to Friday, 9:00 am to 5:00 pm
Talk with an attorney about your Downtown matter
Tell me what you are dealing with in Downtown San Diego. Your message comes straight to me and most inquiries get a reply the same business day.
Your details go straight to Donald Schiffer. Most inquiries receive a reply the same business day. Prefer to talk now? Call (619) 699-4860.
Legal Services
How I help Downtown clients
Five transactional areas covering the full arc of a business, from the entity you form to the property you buy and the company you eventually sell.
Nearby
Other areas served
The practice covers San Diego County and the surrounding region. These are the communities closest to Downtown San Diego.