For more than three decades, Joe has been one of the Atlanta market’s leading attorneys for regional, national and international transactions. A trusted advisor, Joe is known for his practical, business-focused counsel, his creative solutions, and unwavering devotion to his clients.
Joe regularly represents developers, property owners, managers and equity investors in the acquisition, development, leasing, structured financing, and management of commercial real estate, including hotels, resorts, quick service restaurants, and retail, multifamily, office and industrial developments.
He also practices in the area of corporate finance, secured lending and general corporate law. Joe’s corporate practice includes negotiation of joint venture agreements, general corporate representation of closely held and regulated companies in mergers, acquisitions and finance transactions. His experience includes representing distributors, contractors, and diversified operating companies, many in the food and beverage industry.
As part of a robust hospitality practice, Joe is an active member and speaker in the International Society of Hospitality Consultants. He also has been a member of Vistage International, a leading CEO advisory organization, for more than 25 years. Joe is fluent in French.
Honors & Awards
- Chambers USA Ranked Lawyer, Real Estate, Georgia, 2008 – Present
- Recognized in The Best Lawyers in America (BL Rankings), Real Estate Law, 2016 – Present
- AV Preeminent Rating, Martindale-Hubbell, 1985 – Present
Thought Leadership
Presentations
- The Pandemic and the Service Industry: A Look at the Winners and Losers in the Hotel and Quick Service Restaurant Sectors, Womble Bond Dickinson's Everything from Everywhere Virtual Summit, January 29, 2021
Publications
- The Positive Signs of Hotel Lending Recovery, Joe Foltz and Seth Pierce Johnson, LODGING Magazine (publication of the American Hotel & Lodging Association), June 2021
- Co-Author, "Lease Words You Never Minded: Usufructs vs. Estates for Years", Georgia Bar Journal, Volume 26, Number 5, April 2021.
Representative Experience
Any result the lawyer or law firm may have achieved on behalf of clients in other matters does not necessarily indicate similar results can be obtained for other clients.
- Managed $470 million high yield bond financing for quick service restaurant owner operator.
- Negotiation and closing with master developer of $300 million mixed-use development on manufacturer’s surplus land.
- Negotiated and managed the closing of boutique hotel developer’s $300 million mixed-use development in Savannah, Georgia involving eight different private and public financing sources, including federal and state historic tax credits, taxable bond financing, and EB-5 funding.
- Managed the $250 million acquisition from a national franchisor of 194 quick-service restaurants across the southeastern US in Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Louisiana and Mississippi.
- Managed the $200 million stock purchase of a joint venture interest in a nationally recognized ocean resort property.
- Managed the asset purchase of a $150 million golf resort with new joint venture partner and rolled-in interest of former owner.
- Sales and management back of $150 million hotel portfolio.
- Advised on the creation of independent consultancies for doing business in the US by international manufacturers, including in the Alsace-Lorraine region of France.
- Negotiated licenses for film studio’s use of manufacturing and industrial sites.
- Negotiated joint ventures between hotel developers and national hotel REIT.
- Managed acquisition, construction lending and permanent financing of garden style multi-family communities.
