John Busey Wood is a member of the commercial real estate group in the New York City office of the national law firm Akerman LLP and advises public and private companies on national real estate transactions, development of mixed use and retail projects, retail centers and portfolio property master and ground leasing. For over 40 years Mr. Wood has represented owners and tenants in the design and negotiation of commercial leases covering in excess of 100 million square feet of retail, industrial, office and mixed use projects. These experiences, coupled with a unique blend of professional disciplines, resulted in his being featured on the Wall Street Journal Report and in articles on the impact of commercial leases on commerce and being referred to by The Wall Street Journal and The New York Times as “the father of the modern killer lease.” His has extensive national experience in developable land, property acquisitions, and large scale retail and office developments. He is a noted authority on ground leases and sale/leasebacks and helped lead a national team on a purchase, sale and master lease transaction involving 327 super market properties. Among noteworthy projects, Mr. Wood directed the legal team in a national portfolio acquisition with a value in excess of $2 billion and he participated in the development, leasing and financing of over 4 million square feet of regional shopping malls and retail centers nationwide. He negotiated what is considered the largest ground/space lease transaction of its kind in the history of New York City, containing more than 1.6 million square feet and including “fast-track” reconstruction, construction financing, permanent financing and options for fee acquisition. Mr. Wood is a licensed Class “A” commercial real estate broker, a Certified Public Accountant and holds B.B.A. (Accounting and Economics), M.B.A. (Accounting and Finance) and J.D. degrees. Mr. Wood frequently lectures on commercial leasing, transaction structuring and master leasing at Columbia University-ISDE Graduate Law and Economics Program and at the New York University Graduate School and Schack Real Estate Institute. He also lectures at PLI, where he is the New York and national Chairman of the Milton Friedman Leasing Lectures, and at the executive and annual meetings of the ABA and AICPA. Mr. Wood has frequently served as a “party selected” and Federal arbitrator and is an American Arbitration Association - National Neutral - Commercial Panelist. Mr. Wood is the senior author of the national treatise Negotiating and Drafting Office Leases, published by Law Journal Seminars-Press and supplemented 2 times per year ©1994. He is the author of the textbook, Navigating The Dangerous Shoals of a Commercial Lease, published by New York University Graduate School, ©1992-2012 and hosts the commercial leasing educational websites officeleasingusa.com and leasingnyc.com which are utilized to supplement his lectures. Mr. Wood is listed in Who's Who In Law and Registry of Global Business Leaders, National Lawyers of Distinction and NY Super Lawyers 2004-2020. Mr. Wood is AV Preeminent® peer rated by Martindale-Hubbell and was peer-nominated and elected an American Bar Foundation Fellow.