Clayton B. Gantz

Clay Gantz addresses client real estate concerns, including development and investment; debt and equity financing; land use and entitlements; public-private partnerships; acquisitions, sales and exchanges; and leasing and ground leasing.

Leveraging decades of experience as counsel to public agencies to advise private developers in public-private partnerships, Clay advised the San Francisco Redevelopment Agency on the Moscone Center/Yerba Buena Gardens project. He also advised the city of Tustin on the conversion of its Marine Corps air station from military to civilian use. Lambda Alpha International (the international honorary society for the advancement of land economics), in inviting Clay’s membership, cited his “creativity in structuring public and private development transactions of depth and complexity.”

Clay represents buyers and sellers of distressed mortgage loans, loan portfolios and REO property as well as borrowers and lenders in mortgage loan restructurings and workouts. He both forms and serves as general counsel to commercial mortgage loan conduits and private equity funds.

An award-winning amateur winemaker, Clay is intimately knowledgeable about the acquisition, disposition and financings of wineries and vineyards. He developed his own vineyard in Sonoma County, planted to Pinot Noir and Chardonnay, and is the past president of the Russian River Valley Winegrowers.

Clay was managing partner of a San Francisco–based firm that combined with Manatt in 2008. He is a member of both the real estate and land use and the corporate and finance practice groups at Manatt.