Joseph Patrick Covelli

Partner

Joseph P. Covelli is a real estate and corporate attorney with extensive legal and business experience in complex real estate and business transactions, including acquisitions, dispositions, joint venture structuring, entitlements, due diligence, development, leasing, finance, and regulatory compliance. He also has significant experience in establishing, managing, and financing of Community Development Districts (CDDs) across Florida.

Joe’s practice spans virtually every asset class—multifamily, retail, industrial, hospitality, hotel, and condominiums — and he regularly represents clients in high-value transactions across the United States. Over the past decade, he has advised several long-standing clients on more than $3.5 billion in real estate, corporate and finance transactions.

Before returning to law in 2009, Joe spent a decade in executive roles in the real estate and homebuilding industry. He served as Director of CDD Finance for a major developer, then held leadership roles including Vice President of Acquisitions and Vice President of Business Development for two publicly traded homebuilding companies. This hands-on experience gives Joe a deep, practical understanding of the issues, opportunities, and challenges, his clients face.

Joe began his professional career as a Certified Public Accountant (inactive) in Arizona with a Big Six accounting firm, where he led audits for high-profile clients in the retail, energy, manufacturing, nonprofit, and professional sports sectors. This foundation in accounting —combined with his legal background— makes him a strategic advisor on transactions that require both legal precision and business insight.

He is valued by clients for being highly responsive, pragmatic, and solutions-focused—delivering not only legal advice, but also practical guidance grounded in real-world development experience.

Representative Matters

• Represented a national real estate developer for over a decade in more than $3.5 billion of acquisitions, dispositions and development projects across the United States, spanning multifamily, retail, hospitality, hotel, industrial, condominium and mixed-use projects.

• Guided a regional apartment client for over a decade through 25+ apartment transactions totaling in excess of $250 million in multifamily acquisitions and sales across multiple jurisdictions.

• Handled over 800,000 square feet of leasing for a regional mixed-use development company, including ground leases for retail, hotel, and apartment developments.

• Structured and managed Community Development Districts (CDDs) for developers throughout Florida, advising on legal, financial, and regulatory components of district formation and funding with financings in excess of $300 million.

Bar Admissions

• Florida, 1998

Education

• Stetson University College of Law, J.D., cum laude, top 10 percent, 1998
• Arizona State University, B.S., Accountancy, magna cum laude, 1992

Awards & Recognition

• Certified Public Accountant, Arizona (Inactive)
• AV® Preeminent Rated by Martindale-Hubbell
• The Best Lawyers in America®, Real Estate Law, 2018 – Present

Community & Professional Organizations

• The Florida Bar, 1998
  • Member

Outside the office

Joe brings the same passion and commitment he applies to his legal practice into his personal pursuits. Joe is an avid cyclist, runner and swimmer and has competed in numerous triathlons. He also enjoys golf, exploring new restaurants, and traveling to vineyards in the U.S and abroad with his wife. Joe has two adult children, who reside in Tampa, Florida and Edinburgh, Scotland, respectively.