Matthew I. Weinstein

Chair, Real Estate Lease Restructuring

Matthew has extensive experience representing real estate developers together with the owners of shopping centers, office, and warehouse/industrial projects in all aspects of the acquisition, development, financing, leasing, and disposition of commercial property.

Matthew’s experience includes representation of many local, regional, and national tenants and landlords in negotiating retail, office, and warehouse/industrial leasing space in shopping centers, office complexes, industrial sites, technology parks, and incubation centers.

Matthew represents owners of retail, office, and warehouse/industrial projects in connection with the reviewing, drafting, and negotiation of construction contracts, as well as guiding clients through the bidding process. He has also assisted borrower clients in connection with the workout and restructuring of distressed loans.

In addition to his general real estate practice, Matthew also focuses on government-assisted and affordable housing matters. Matthew represented housing authorities and affordable housing developers particularly with respect to HUD and state tax credit allocating agency compliance issues. He has also been actively involved in structuring complex homeownership and rental transactions involving public, nonprofit, and private developers. In addition, he has negotiated and structured numerous tax credit/syndication transactions and related entity formation issues on behalf of housing authorities, developers, and related agencies involving various nationally recognized tax credit investors.

Matthew has written and contributed to numerous articles on a variety of real estate-related topics in leading industry publications, including Development Magazine, MedicalOfficeToday.com, Real Estate Finance Journal, and The Legal Intelligencer: Real Estate Quarterly Supplement.

Matthew is a member of International Council of Shopping Centers (ICSC) and Urban Land Institute (ULI). Matthew was also a member of the 2016-17 ULI NEXT Philadelphia Cohort, an educational group designed to champion the ULI mission and foster leadership opportunities in development. He has been a frequent panel, workshop, and roundtable leader at the ICSC Law Conference on topics including exclusives, use restrictions and prohibited uses, climate change, lessons learned from COVID-19 as it pertains to lease provisions, and lease restricting and workouts. Matthew has been featured as a guest speaker for the Building Owners and Managers Association, the Association of Corporate Counsel, and NAIOP, discussing matters ranging from office and street-level retail leasing-related issues to the effects of climate change on real estate. In 2024, Matthew was elected a Fellow in the American College of Real Estate Lawyers, a premier association of nationally known real estate attorneys in the United States.

Matthew earned his law degree, magna cum laude, from Villanova Law School, where he was the managing editor of outside articles for the Villanova Law Review, was elected to the Order of the Coif, and received the Villanova Law Review Scribe’s Award for his note, "I’m Paying for That? Assessing the Constitutionality of Mandating Student Activity Fees to Support Objectionable Political and Ideological Activities at Public Universities in Southworth v. Grebe," which was published in 44 Vill. L. Rev. 257 (1999). Following law school, he clerked for Judge Arnold L. New of the Pennsylvania Court of Common Pleas, First Judicial District. Matthew earned his undergraduate degree from Columbia University.

Experience

News

Matthew Weinstein Elected Fellow of American College of Real Estate Lawyers

April 09, 2024

Matthew I. Weinstein, chair of Cozen O’Connor’s Real Estate Lease Restructuring Group, has been elected a Fellow of the American College of Real Estate Lawyers.

More Than 205 Cozen O’Connor Attorneys Named Best Lawyers and Ones to Watch By The Best Lawyers In America

August 19, 2021

Best Lawyers selected 210 Cozen O’Connor lawyers from 23 of the firm’s nationwide offices for inclusion in the 2022 edition of The Best Lawyers in America.

Vacated Restaurants Could Spark a Real Estate Boon

November 30, 2020

Matt Weinstein discusses with FSR Magazine the potential increase in real estate opportunities as restaurants look for property as companies begin to bounce back from COVID-19.

Movie Theater Closings Pose Another Challenge to Mall Landlords

October 19, 2020

Matt Weinstein discusses how the pandemic has caused movie theaters to close and what that means for mall landlords in GlobeSt.

Regal Theater Closures Present A 'Very Serious' Problem For Retail Landlords

October 13, 2020

In S&P Global Market Intelligence, Matt Weinstein discusses how mall and shopping center landlords are addressing the potential cascade of movie theater closures.

200 Cozen O’Connor Attorneys Named Best Lawyers and Ones to Watch By The Best Lawyers In America

August 20, 2020

Best Lawyers selected 200 Cozen O’Connor lawyers from 23 of the firm’s nationwide offices for inclusion in the 2021 edition of The Best Lawyers in America© (Copyright 2020 by Woodward/White, Inc., of Aiken, SC).

Lease Restructuring Groups Emerge As Virus Drives Demand

August 14, 2020

Cozen O'Connor's Real Estate Lease Restructuring Group is highlighted in a recent Law360 article titled, "Lease Restructuring Groups Emerge as Virus Drives Demand."

Cozen O'Connor Group Tackles Surge Of Virus-Driven Lease Disputes

July 09, 2020

Matt Weinstein discusses the formation of Cozen O’Connor’s Real Estate Lease Restructuring Practice, a multidisciplinary team assembled to address the growing needs of landlord and tenant lease renegotiation issues that have resulted from the COVID-19 pandemic in Law360.

Publications

Life Science Conversions in Real Estate

May 24, 2023

Matt Weinstein discusses the legal issues surrounding the lease that need to be evaluated and addressed when considering a conversion of office space to life science space in Area Development.

Climate Change – Real Estate Impact [White Paper]

March 22, 2021

Matthew Weinstein and Harrison Haas discuss how climate change impacts the real estate industry and the ways property owners, developers, governmental authorities, and others intend to tackle the perceived effect of climate change.

Don’t Get Grossed Out by a Net Lease [COpilot Blog]

September 26, 2019

A lease is the first foray into real estate for many young entrepreneurs. With the exception of the dorm occupancy contract in college, and possibly a residential apartment lease in graduate school, most entrepreneurs have not given much thought to real estate generally and leasing in particular.

Breweries on the Move [Bar Business Magazine]

November 01, 2017

Matthew Weinstein, a member of Cozen O’Connor’s Real Estate Practice Group, discusses unique considerations in connection with expansions and relocations of breweries in Bar Business Magazine.

Hidden Traps: Builders should watch for the pitfalls of the Interstate Land Sale Full Disclosure Act [Construction Today]

February 01, 2011

Hidden Traps: Builders should watch for the pitfalls of the Interstate Land Sale Full Disclosure Act - Construction Today -

Events & Seminars

Past Events

Health Law 2024

December 05, 2023 - Philadelphia, PA

Boilerplate Provisions in Retail Leases in the Age of Covid

November 05, 2021 - San Francisco, CA

Leasing for Startups

January 16, 2020 - Philadelphia, PA

ICSC U.S. Shopping Center Law Conference 2019

October 25, 2019 - San Diego, CA

Education

  • Villanova University School of Law, J.D., magna cum laude, 2000
  • Columbia University, B.A., 1995
  • New Jersey
  • Pennsylvania

The Honorable Arnold L. New, The Pennsylvania Court of Common Pleas, First Judicial District

Fellow, American College of Real Estate Lawyers 

Louis D. Brandeis Law Society