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Our Attorneys

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Matt York Partner

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G. Mattern (Matt) York is a partner at Wall Esleeck Babcock LLP where he focuses his practice on commercial real estate. Matt has been recognized as a member of the “Legal Elite” in Real Estate by Business North Carolina magazine (2005) and has been a guest lecturer on real estate law at the Kenan-Flagler Business School Real Estate Program and the Duke Law School Community Economic Development Clinic. Matt was also nominated for a 2010 Triangle CREW Champion Award for Professional Commercial Real Estate Service, an honor based on industry knowledge, leadership ability, negotiating skills, work ethic and creativity.

Matt has extensive experience representing developers, investors and business owners in a wide variety of commercial real estate matters, including development projects, joint ventures, real estate investments and dispositions, leasing, 1031 exchanges, and construction and permanent financing. His practice area experience includes representing:

  • A national investor in the acquisition of $7.5 million office building and $8 million furniture showroom building with conduit financing
  • An international “big box” retail company in the acquisition and development of new locations across North Carolina
  • A national retail developer in the acquisition and development of multiple parcels for $65M shopping center
  • A national investor in the disposition of $15 million single-tenant, triple-net facility
  • One of the world’s largest financial institutions in the leasing and disposition of retail locations
  • A Triad developer in leasing newly constructed shopping center
  • A national company in the acquisition of industrial sites for re-development as mini-storage

Prior to joining Wall Esleeck Babcock, Matt owned and operated a boutique commercial real estate firm with offices in Winston-Salem and Raleigh. Earlier in his career, he practiced with Kilpatrick Stockton LLP, Troutman Sanders LLP and Helms Mulliss & Wicker, PLLC (now McGuire Woods) in Raleigh. Matt received a J.D. degree from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill School of Law, where he served as a staff member on the North Carolina Law Review. He received an M.A. degree from the University of North Carolina at Charlotte and a B.A. degree from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

Matt serves as a member of the Real Property and Zoning, Planning & Land Use Sections of the North Carolina Bar Association and the Forsyth County Bar Association. He has provided pro bono real estate counsel for Passage Home Inc., a community development corporation that provides housing and support services to low-income and homeless families in Wake County, and for the Triangle Land Conservancy, a non-profit corporation dedicated to protecting open space in Chatham, Durham, Johnston, Lee, Orange and Wake counties. Matt was a founding member of North Carolina Symphony Bravo! Group and has been active in Big Brothers/Big Sisters of United Way. Matt and his wife, Melanie, live in Winston-Salem and have a daughter, Mary Poyner.