Walter focuses his practice on the acquisition, sale, development, and leasing of commercial real estate. He has extensive experience negotiating and preparing office, industrial, and retail leases for space in urban and suburban markets and negotiating and representing developers of mixed-use projects. Additionally, Walter has represented developers and operators of resort and hospitality projects across the U.S. and frequently assists clients in the acquisition and disposition of portfolios of real estate assets.

Over the course of his career, through upturns and downturns in the real estate market, Walter has maintained a reputation as someone who gets deals done, finding win-win outcomes that overcome obstacles, and achieving his clients’ goals.

Walter is a LEED Accredited Professional (LEED-AP), a distinction he earned through the Green Building Certification Institute. Having served for six years on the board of the Catawba Lands Conservancy, Walter sees land conservation and environmental stewardship as connected to, rather than in opposition to, growth, in that the creation of high-value places where people want to live, work, and spend time ultimately builds long-term prosperity.

Within the firm, in the business community, and in civic and cultural institutions across the region, Walter leads by example, focusing on building a positive climate in which others can succeed.

• Represented a client in connection with all aspects of an approximately $700 million sale of a portfolio of nine first-class multifamily projects while under construction in Florida, Georgia, and North Carolina. The project included drafting and negotiating an exclusive listing agreement with a global brokerage and capital markets firm, as well as purchase and sale agreements with two institutional purchasers, with rolling closings for each sale as construction of the project was completed.
• Represented a real estate developer/investor client in connection with the workout of a $400 million real estate loan portfolio involving 15 properties located in four states.
• Represented a REIT client in connection with the purchase of a $570 million portfolio of commercial real estate mortgages, mezzanine loans, and B and C notes, including many loans secured by hotel properties.
• Represented a health care system client in connection with all phases of a $162 million monetization transaction involving the sale and leaseback of 15 medical office buildings comprising nearly 600,000 square feet of space with a publicly traded health care REIT investor.
• Represented a client in connection with all phases of the acquisition, leasing, financing, and development of a 2,000-acre destination resort community, including a resort hotel and associated lodging and recreational facilities, located in northern New Hampshire.
• Handled the acquisition, development, leasing, and sale of a $100 million mixed-use project in Huntersville, NC, involving retail, office, and multifamily uses.
• Represented a client in acquiring approximately 12,000 acres of land and conveying approximately 9,000 acres of the property to The Nature Conservancy in connection with the environmentally sensitive development of a master-planned residential community in Western Virginia.
• Assisted a client in the acquisition, development, leasing, and sale of a business park containing approximately 1 million square feet of office space in six buildings. Several leases involved corporate headquarters relocations.
• Represented a client in all aspects of the negotiation and sale of its $210 million portfolio of 51 multitenant office buildings located in seven states.
• Represented a client in the assemblage of land for, and the development, leasing, financing, and sale of, a high-profile, mixed-use project in Charlotte, NC, incorporating retail, hotel, and multifamily uses.
• Represented a client in the voluntary annexation of, and the securing of zoning and development entitlements for, more than 3,500 acres of land in Fort Mill, SC. This assignment involved the negotiation of a long-term and complex development agreement with the relevant municipal entity, addressing an extensive array of issues and concerns anticipated to affect the development of the property over a period of more than 30 years.
• Represented a client in renovating and repositioning a mixed-use project that included an office tower and horizontally integrated multifamily residential and retail components in Greenville, SC.

• Best Lawyers in America®: Real Estate Law (2003-2026); Leisure and Hospitality Law (2015-2026)
• Chambers USA: Real Estate, North Carolina (2007-2025)
• North Carolina Super Lawyers: Real Estate Law (2007-2016)
• Legal 500 United States: Real Estate: Real Estate (2015, 2024)
• Best Lawyers in America®: “Lawyer of the Year” in Real Estate Law (2012)
• Business North Carolina: “Legal Elite” in Real Estate Law (2004-2010, 2025)