If you need an attorney who thinks like a business owner, look to Tom Crosbie. More than most attorneys, Tom examines legal issues from a business perspective to ensure that the result is sound from both a strategic and legal point of view. He is highly engaged with his clients and provides a rare level of passion and commitment.
Tom has extensive experience in a broad variety of commercial real estate areas, including acquisitions and dispositions, financing, leasing and construction in connection with commercial, residential, industrial, retail and mixed-use projects for local, regional and national real estate developers and investors. Tom has negotiated the purchase and sale of numerous commercial properties throughout the United States and he is uniquely qualified to anticipate and address the needs of his clients in the acquisition and disposition of commercial real estate.
On the development front, he has vast expertise in all aspects of ground-up development and redevelopment projects, including drafting and negotiating development agreements, CC&Rs, REAs, construction contracts and design contracts for commercial, industrial, multi-family residential and mixed-use projects. On the financing front, Tom has worked as counsel to numerous borrowers and lenders regarding all aspects of commercial loan transactions and workouts in connection with all major property types.
Notable Cases/Deals
- Primary representation of one of the nation’s leading life science REITs in connection with numerous projects nationwide, including the lease of an air rights parcel over the Massachusetts Turnpike in Boston, Massachusetts; the purchase and development of ground lease interests across three city blocks for a world-class, waterfront gateway development in downtown San Diego, California; and the acquisition and leaseback of a 26-acre life sciences corporate campus in Cambridge, Massachusetts.
- Represented seller in connection with the sale of combined office and retail portfolios in the historic waterfront marketplace known as Liberty Station in San Diego, California. The portfolios sold for nearly $236 million.
- Represented client in connection with refinancing an existing loan for The Avenue, one of Hollywood’s finest mixed-use projects.
- Represented a leading life science REIT in the acquisition and leasing of a life sciences corporate campus currently comprised of four interconnected, state-of-the-art buildings having in the aggregate approximately 200,000-square-feet and housing R&D, laboratory and vivarium space on 18 acres in Andover, Massachusetts, a growing life sciences cluster approximately 25 miles from downtown Boston.
- Represented a hotel and resort developer in connection with a disposition and development agreement and two 55-year ground leases of city-owned property located in downtown Mountain View, California.
- Represented an institutional investor in connection with the negotiation of leasing and construction agreements for a 70,000-square-foot mixed-use development in downtown Delray Beach, Florida, which included a new global headquarters for the center’s anchor tenant.
Accolades
- Recipient, “Best Lawyer – Real Estate Law,” Best Lawyers in America (2018-2025)
- Recipient, “Top 50 Lawyers in America,” America’s Top Lawyers (2025)
- Chambers USA Guide (2022-2024)
- Recipient, San Diego Super Lawyers, Real Estate (2016-2024)
- Recipient, “Leaders of Influence in Commercial Real Estate,” San Diego Business Journal (2024)
- Recipient, “Leaders in Law,” San Diego Business Journal (2021)
- Recipient, “Lawyer of the Year – San Diego,” Real Estate Law, Best Lawyers (US News & World Report) (2021)
- Recipient, “Best of the Bar,” San Diego Business Journal (2015-2016)
News
Education
- J.D., Northwestern University School of Law
- B.A., Columbia University
Bar Admissions
- California
- Arizona
Involvement
- NAIOP, San Diego Chapter