Rebecca is a preeminent commercial real estate lawyer who skillfully steers developers, lenders, companies and nonprofit organizations through a wide array of real estate transactions and matters. She has particular expertise in land use law and development permitting in the Greater Boston area, and she frequently draws upon her earlier experience as chief of staff / special counsel to the director of the Boston Redevelopment Authority — now known as the Boston Planning & Development Agency. In addition to development permitting at the federal, state and local levels, her practice encompasses a broad range of acquisitions / dispositions, condominium creation and financing, including matters that involve historic preservation and tax incentive elements. She has deep experience with development projects involving public/private partnerships and the negotiation of ground leases with public agencies and authorities.
Rebecca chairs the Firm’s Real Estate Development Practice and regularly steers developers, lenders, companies and nonprofit organizations through a wide array of real estate transactions and matters. She has particular expertise in land use law and development permitting in the Greater Boston area. She has served as project counsel to projects such as the Omni Hotel in Boston’s Seaport District and the Canopy by Hilton Hotel near Haymarket, as well as affordable housing projects such as 88 Hudson Street and 66 Hudson Street in Chinatown, and the Mosaic project in Mission Hill. She is currently representing a non-profit organization that is the Commonwealth’s largest provider of emergency shelter, and serving as project counsel for Dorchester Bay City, which will comprise 6.2 million square feet of office, laboratory, residential, and retail, cultural and restaurant uses, as well as five major open space areas, in the Columbia Point area of Boston. She is also an avid baseball fan and regularly participates as a pianist in the Chamber Music Conference of the East held each summer.
Rebecca is a member of the Board of Directors of Asian Community Development Corporation, the Rose Kennedy Greenway Conservancy (as a Chinatown neighborhood representative), and A Better City, as well as a member of the Planning and Policy Committee of Boston Harbor Now, the area’s premier waterfront advocacy organization. She received a B.A. cum laude from Brandeis University, an M.P.A. from the John F. Kennedy School at Harvard University, and a J.D. from Yale Law School.
Experience
Representative permitting and real estate matters include:
- Redevelopment of the former Bayside Exposition Center property into a 5 million+ square foot mixed-use development to include office, laboratory, residential, retail and other commercial uses, as well as new open space areas.
- Development of new office building, parking garage, and City-owned park, including a new City street.
- Development of a multiple residential rental and condominium projects (including affordable housing).
- Development of a Fortune 500 company corporate campus, including the rehabilitation of an historic building, in Boston’s Fort Point Channel area.
- Development of a 1,555 key branded convention center hotel on a site ground leased from a public authority.
- Development of two branded hotels on a South Boston site ground leased from a public authority.
- Development of a branded hotel on a downtown Boston property ground leased from a public agency.
- Development of mixed-income housing in the Mission Hill and Chinatown neighborhoods of Boston on sites ground leased from public agencies, utilizing public subordinate debt and low income housing tax credit equity.
- Representation of a major institutional lender making mortgage and construction loans for residential and office projects.
- Historic rehabilitation for office and commercial space.
- Development Agreement for construction of a minor league baseball stadium
viewpoints
Doing Well to Do Good
December 21, 2023 | Article
Casa Nueva Vida faced financial distress and potential collapse, as well as the potential loss of its four emergency shelter properties in Boston and Lawrence, MA. Heading Home, the largest provider of emergency housing in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, was asked to consider taking over stewardship of three active transitional housing and emergency shelters that were home to approximately 125 residents. Mintz, under the leadership of attorney Rebecca Lee, was asked to help Heading Home. Read more about how Rebecca A. Lee provided crucial help to this organization.
Massachusetts Appeals Court Holds that Restrictive Covenants Created as Part of a Common Scheme May Be Extended Beyond Thirty Years Only if Explicitly Allowed in the Original Instrument
December 7, 2017 | Advisory | By Joel Rothman, Rebecca Lee, Nicholas Cramb
News & Press
Chambers USA has recognized 43 of Mintz’s practices and 88 of its attorneys in its 2025 guide to the country’s leading law firms. Of those featured in the guide, 17 attorneys and seven practice areas were awarded Chambers’ highest ranking, Band 1. The firm expanded its rankings this year with three new practice area listings and 17 attorneys recognized for the first time or in additional categories.
Mintz is pleased to announce that 31 attorneys have been named Massachusetts Super Lawyers and 35 attorneys have been named Massachusetts Rising Stars for 2024.
Three Mintz Attorneys Recognized in Lawdragon’s 2024 “500 Leading Global Real Estate Lawyers”
August 20, 2024
Three Mintz members practicing in three different geographic areas have been recognized by Lawdragon in its 2024 “500 Leading Global Real Estate Lawyers” list.
The Best Lawyers in America 2025 Recognizes 184 Mintz Attorneys across 56 Practice Areas
August 15, 2024
187 Mintz attorneys have been recognized by Best Lawyers® in the 2025 edition of The Best Lawyers in America©. Notably, three Mintz attorneys received 2025 “Lawyer of the Year” awards, and 64 firm attorneys were included in the 2025 edition of Best Lawyers: Ones to Watch.
Mintz announced today that 42 of its practices and 83 of its attorneys earned recognition in the 2024 edition of Chambers USA, a guide to the country’s leading law firms. Of those included in the guide, 18 attorneys and seven practice areas were awarded Chambers’ highest ranking, Band 1. The firm obtained new listings in three practice areas and 10 of its lawyers were recognized for the first time.
Fifty-Nine Attorneys Recognized as 2023 Massachusetts Super Lawyers and Rising Stars
October 12, 2023
Mintz is pleased to announce that 32 attorneys have been named Massachusetts Super Lawyers and 27 attorneys have been named Massachusetts Rising Stars for 2023.
Mintz is pleased to announce that 120 firm attorneys have been recognized as leaders by Best Lawyers® in the 2024 edition of The Best Lawyers in America©.
Mintz and ML Strategies Receive Environmental Business Council Award For Outstanding Collaboration
June 08, 2023
BOSTON - Mintz and ML Strategies were recognized with the prestigious Nicholas Humber Award for Outstanding Collaboration by the Environmental Business Council of New England (EBC) at the 30th Annual EBEE Awards in Boston.
Mintz Receives Inaugural ALLY Award from the Asian American Lawyers Association of Massachusetts
June 01, 2023
BOSTON – Mintz is pleased to announce that it has been honored with the first-ever ALLY of the Year Award from the Asian American Lawyers Association of Massachusetts (AALAM).
BOSTON –Mintz announced today that 39 of its practices and 81 of its attorneys earned recognition in the 2023 edition of Chambers USA, a guide to the country’s leading law firms.
Mintz's Rebecca Lee Honored By Connect CRE As Top 10 Real Estate Lawyer In Boston & New England Region
December 06, 2022
BOSTON – Mintz Member and Chair of the firm’s Real Estate Development Practice, Rebecca A. Lee, has been recognized as one of the top 10 real estate attorneys in the Boston & New England region by commercial real estate news and information service Connect CRE.
35 Mintz attorneys have been named Massachusetts Super Lawyers and 25 Mintz attorneys have been named Massachusetts Rising Stars for 2022.
Best Lawyers® recognized 108 firm attorneys in the 2023 edition of The Best Lawyers in America©. Notably, two Mintz attorneys – Poonam Patidar and Scott M. Stanton – received 2023 “Lawyer of the Year” awards, and 28 firm attorneys were included in the inaugural edition of Best Lawyers: Ones to Watch.
Who’s the Boss? She is.
November 4, 2019
Mintz’s Second Annual “She’s The Boss” Event Draws Record Crowd, Inspires Future Female Leaders
October 12, 2019
Mintz Recognized by Chambers USA 2019
April 26, 2019
Mintz's Rebecca A. Lee Elected Trustee of Eastern Bank
July 25, 2018
Chambers USA 2018 Ranks Mintz Attorneys & Practices
May 03, 2018
Rebecca A. Lee & Benjamin Sigel Honored Among Boston’s Most Influential People of Color
April 11, 2018
Rebecca A. Lee Named Chair of Mintz’s Real Estate Development Practice
September 26, 2017
Mintz’s Rebecca A. Lee to Be Honored at YW Boston’s Academy of Women Achievers Luncheon
June 15, 2017
Mintz and ML Strategies Represent GE in Acquisition and Permitting of GE Innovation Point
January 27, 2017
Eighty-Four Mintz Attorneys Named 2016 Massachusetts Super Lawyers and Rising Stars
October 18, 2016
Locke Lord loses real estate partner to another firm
March 10, 2016
Events & Speaking
She's The Boss
An Event to Inspire Future Female Leaders
InterContinental Boston, 510 Atlantic Ave., Boston, MA 02210
2019 Commercial Real Estate Success Training Program
The Legal Elements of Real Estate Development
Brown Rudnick, One Financial Place
Recognition & Awards
Fellow, American College of Real Estate Lawyers
Massachusetts Lawyers Weekly: Go to Lawyers Honoree – Commercial Real Estate (2021)
Boston Magazine Top Lawyers – Land Use and Zoning (2021)
Whittier Street Health Center's Outstanding Champion (2021)
Chambers USA: Massachusetts – Real Estate: Zoning/Land Use (2007–2025)
Featured in Best Lawyers in America, Real Estate Law and Land Use & Zoning Law (2018 – 2025)
Massachusetts Super Lawyers: Real Estate (2004, 2009–2024)
YW Boston Academy of Women Achievers (2017)
Networking Award (One Greenway Project, W Hotel and Residences, 10 St. James Avenue) - CREW Boston
Bisnow: one of the 50 Most Influential Women in Boston Commercial Real Estate (2015)
American Lawyer Media and Martindale Hubbell: Top Rated Lawyer in Land Use and Zoning (2013–2014)
Boston Business Journal’s Advancing Women Event: Legacy Award (2014)
Asian American Lawyers Association of Massachusetts: Founders Award (2013)
Involvement
- Member, Rose Kennedy Greenway Conservancy Board of Directors
- Steering Committee, Ricesticks and Tea Asian Food Pantry
- Member, Eastern Bank Board of Trustees
- Member, Asian Community Development Corporation Board of Directors
- Member, Boston Harbor Now Planning and Policy Committee and Board of Advisors
- Member, Massachusetts Women's Forum
- Past President, Asian American Lawyers Association of Massachusetts
- Past Northeast Regional Governor, National Asian Pacific American Bar Association
Recent Insights
Mintz is pleased to announce that 31 attorneys have been named Massachusetts Super Lawyers and 35 attorneys have been named Massachusetts Rising Stars for 2024.
Three Mintz members practicing in three different geographic areas have been recognized by Lawdragon in its 2024 “500 Leading Global Real Estate Lawyers” list.
