Jennifer I. Connelly is a commercial real estate attorney with experience in acquisitions, development, leasing, and financing.
In particular, Jen represents retailers, developers, and institutions on all aspects of commercial real estate transactions. A partner in the firm’s Renewable Energy Practice Group, Jen advises institutional investors, industrial companies, and other types of commercial property owners on solar leasing matters for rooftop, ground mounted, and canopy facilities.
While at Sherin and Lodgen, Jen has had the unique opportunity of working on secondment for two of the firm’s clients: one a national retailer; the other, a commercial property management company. In 2019, she completed NAIOP Massachusetts’s Leadership Institute, designed to advance the leadership skills and practical knowledge of up-and-coming commercial real estate professionals.
Jen gained substantial legal experience during law school as a legal intern for the Civil Division of the U.S. Attorney’s Office, a federal magistrate judge, and a mid-size civil litigation and transactional law firm. Her final legal internship through law school was at Sherin and Lodgen LLP.
Client Success
Experience
- Restaurant management group in sale of over 20 franchised properties
- National grocery store retailer in environmental investigation and remediation activities at various properties in the northeast
- Landlords, owners, and property managers in retail and office leasing transactions
- Hotel investor in the $54 million acquisition of two hotels in Greater Boston area
- Real estate business in the asset sale of entire business, including over 15 office leases
- Shopping center landlord in leasing of new construction and rehabilitation of two centers
- Hospitality owners and developers in liquor license applications or transfers
- Industrial REIT in acquisitions and leasing of warehouses and manufacturing facilities and and roll-out of solar leasing program
Accolades
- Listed in The Best Lawyers in America©
- Featured in New England Real Estate Journal’s (NEREJ) 2021 “Ones to Watch Spotlight“
- Listed as a “Rising Star” by Massachusetts Super Lawyers
Speaking Engagements & Publications
- “Negotiating & Drafting Office & Retail Leases,” speaker, MCLE, May 18, 2022
- “Risks To Consider For Commercial Real Estate Gap Closings,” author, Law360, Aug. 4, 2021
- “How to Draft & Negotiate Subordination, Non-Disturbance & Attornment Agreements (SNDAs),” speaker, MCLE, April 1, 2021
- “Connections 2021 Networking Reception,” practice area leader, Northeastern University School of Law (NUSL), April 1, 2021
- “Lease Drafting in Massachusetts,” co-author, Massachusetts Continuing Legal Education, 4th Edition 2017, with 2020 Supplement
- “Five Key Considerations of Industrial Solar Leasing,” author, Solar Builder Magazine, May 2020
- “Making Sense of Your Industrial Solar Lease,” author, North American Clean Energy, March 2020
- “From Letter of Intent to Closing Checklist – A Deal Document Inventory,” speaker, Boston Bar Association, January 2020
- “Putting the ‘Use’ in Mixed-Use: Negotiating Leases to Protect Against Abutting Tenant Disputes,” roundtable moderator, ICSC U.S. Law Conference, October 2019
- “Breakfast With The Bench: Hon. Nathaniel M. Gorton,” The Massachusetts Chapter of The Federal Bar Association Newsletter, December 2014
- “Judicial Profile: Hon. Judith G. Dein,” The Federal Magazine, May 2014
Related Blog Posts
- Gap Closings: A Commercial Real Estate Necessity, Especially Now, April 2, 2021
- The Importance of Recordkeeping in Commercial Lease Administration, March 17, 2017
- Massachusetts Permit Session Jurisdiction Explained, February 27, 2015
- What You Need To Know: Boston and Cambridge Energy Use Disclosure Ordinances, January 5, 2015
Memberships
- Boston Bar Association
- ICSC
- Government Relations Committee Member
- NAIOP Massachusetts
- Member of NAIOP Development Magazine Editorial Board
- Member of Investment Management and Strategy Forum
Community Involvement
- Girls on the Run, Greater Boston
- Board Member and Secretary
- Governance Committee Member
- Notre Dame Academy Alumnae Association Board (Hingham, Massachusetts), 2009 -2015
- Clerk (2012 – 2015)
- Nominating Committee Member (2012 – 2015)
- Fairfield University Young Alumni Committee (Boston Chapter)
