
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
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
Mintz and ML Strategies Receive Environmental Business Council Award For Outstanding Collaboration
June 08, 2023
Mintz Receives Inaugural ALLY Award from the Asian American Lawyers Association of Massachusetts
June 01, 2023
Mintz's Rebecca Lee Honored By Connect CRE As Top 10 Real Estate Lawyer In Boston & New England Region
December 06, 2022
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 (2007–2023)
- Featured in Best Lawyers in America, Real Estate Law and Land Use & Zoning Law (2018 – 2024)
- Massachusetts Super Lawyers: Real Estate (2004, 2009–2022)
- 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
