Samantha ("Sam") Decker is a real estate attorney whose practice focuses on commercial transactions, land development, and financing. She represents developers, investors, landowners, and businesses in all stages of the real estate lifecycle, from acquisition and due diligence through development, leasing, and disposition. Sam's experience with multifamily, retail, industrial, office, and affordable developments uniquely positions her to deliver comprehensive solutions on projects of all sizes and help navigate complex issues with efficiency and clarity. Sam is known for her approachable style, responsiveness, and commitment to helping clients move projects forward efficiently and creatively.
Sam has extensive experience counseling clients in connection with commercial real estate transactions, title and survey matters, development agreements, and structuring of real estate developments. She has represented clients on mixed-use projects, industrial facilities, multifamily communities, office buildings, retail centers, and large-scale land holdings. As part of her regular practice, Sam negotiates complex purchase and sale agreements, manages title and survey review, and conducts land-use diligence and risk assessments for real state transactions.
Sam also brings public-sector experience to her work. Prior to relocating to North Carolina, she served as Chairwoman of the City of Tampa Variance Review Board where she heard over one hundred variance cases.
Her peers have recognized her work with inclusion in Best Lawyers: Ones to Watch in Real Estate Law and Florida Super Lawyers.
Sam recently relocated to Charlotte with her husband, their spirited three-year-old daughter, and a very patient dog and cat. They live in a home that once sat along her grandfather's childhood paper route—a full-circle connection she loves sharing.
When she's not advising clients, Sam is usually out on a run, unwinding with wonderfully bad reality TV, or exploring Charlotte one small business at a time. She brings the same energy, humor, and authenticity to her personal life that she brings to her practice.
Representative experience includes:
- Represented Seller in connection with the sale of air space over an office building in what was the then largest per-square-foot sale transaction in St. Petersburg, Florida history.
- Served as local real estate counsel to a New Jersey-based industrial developer, assisting with the acquisition, management, and leasing of projects throughout Florida.
- Represented a Florida-based soft drink bottler in the acquisition of property for the expansion of its South Florida distribution facility.
- Represented one of the nation's largest home furnishing retailers in the acquisition of an industrial center in Central Florida for use as a distribution hub.
- Represented a mobile home park developer in the seller-financed portfolio sale of thirteen (13) operating mobile home communities across Florida and Georgia.
- Represented a buyer in the acquisition of multiple amusement parks in Panama City Beach, Florida.
- Represented a leading convenience store operator in the portfolio acquisition of over fifty (50) operating assets.
- Provided strategic counsel to a regional bank on the acquisition of assets from a financial institution placed under FDIC receivership.
- Represented a Texas-based commercial developer in the acquisition, development, leasing, and disposition of multiple single- and multi-tenant shopping centers.
- Successfully represented a prominent fast-food chain before the City of Tampa Variance Review Board, securing approval for a large sign variance.
