Christopher Szostak is UK- and French-qualified. He has been with the Gide real estate team since 2000.

Christopher advises clients in a wide breadth of industry segments including offices, retail, residential, logistics, self-storage, hotels and serviced residential.

He advises on all issues involving real estate with an emphasis on investment (acquisitions and disposals of portfolios and individual assets, joint ventures), and large-scale development work. He also has a lease and litigation practice. He acts on behalf of investors (listed property companies, funds, financial institutions), operators and end-users.

Key clients include AEW, Allianz, Bluespace, Fiminco, Ghelamco, Hammerson, Humanis, Kerzner, Klépierre, Macquarie, Medici Living Group, Mercialys, Mindston, Orange, Sonder, The Student Hotel, Urban Campus, Viacom and a prominent middle-eastern sovereign wealth fund.

Christopher is recommended in Legal 500 EMEA 2021 as a leading individual and ranked in Chambers Europe 2021.

Christopher is fluent in French, English and Polish.

Recent work includes advising:

• a sovereign wealth fund on the disposal of 6-8 Haussmann buildings for circa. €470 million (2017);
   
• Orange on the lease of its new global headquarters (2017);
   
• Hammerson on the €250 million redevelopment and extension of the "Trois Fontaines" shopping centre project in Cergy-Pontoise (2017);
   
• Doughty Hanson on the disposal of the Golf Park complex of five office buildings in Toulouse (2017) and on the prior acquisition, financing and development of the project (2009-2016);
   
• One Third on structuring a co-living project (2016);
   
• Swiss Life Reim on financing the acquisition of a portfolio of 8 hotels in Germany (2016);
   
• GLL Real Estate Partners on the acquisition of a logistics facility from Gicram (2016), a lease of a prime Paris CBD building to Parfums Christian Dior (2016), the disposal of a prime Paris CBD office building to CARMF (2016), and the €200 million disposal of a portfolio of 8 logistics assets to AEW through a share deal (2015);
   
• Rockspring on the acquisition of two logistics portfolios from Foncière des Régions (2016) and CBRE Global Investors (2015);
   
• Hammerson on the €450 million development of the 45,000 sq.m. sales area "Terrasses du Port" shopping centre project in Marseille (2009-2016);
   
• Ghelamco on the acquisition of the Pomme de Pin hotel in Courchevel in view of a redevelopment project and assistance with the redevelopment project (2015-2017);
   
• Captiva Capital Partners and Nexity on the disposal to Weinberg of the Aviso office building in Suresnes (2014);
   
• Grosvenor on the €300 million acquisition from ANF of 30 mixed-use (retail, office and residential) buildings in the rue de la République area in Lyon (2012).

« Christopher Szostak acts on complex cross-border deals involving retail and office assets. He acts for asset managers and real estate investment firms. Strengths: “Christopher is in charge, he advises us on all topics and he is very friendly.” “I have been collaborating with Christopher for many years on projects of all sizes and complexities. Christopher has always been business-oriented and a key member of the project teams.”»
Chambers Europe 2024 : Real Estate

« The strength of expertise in the team comes from Renaud Baguenault de Puchesse , who specialises in advising international investors with French transactions; Hugues Moreau; Christopher Szostak ; structured finance expert Rémi Tabbagh; and Laetitia Lemercier . »
Legal 500 EMEA 2023 - Real Estate

« Christopher Szostak acts on complex cross-border deals involving retail and office assets. He acts for asset managers and real estate investment firms. Strengths: "We have an excellent relationship with Christopher, he can manage all real estate matters and is very solution-oriented." "Christopher is an extremely sharp lawyer with a great knowledge of the hospitality world." »
Chambers Europe 2023 - Real Estate

« [...] Enfin, le cabinet est pourvu d’une des meilleures expertises de financement immobilier du marché ; il assiste souvent des banques sur la structuration des plus importants financements du marché immobilier. Frédéric Nouel dirige la pratique, à laquelle participent également: Stanislas Dwernicki, Eric Martin-Impératori, Renaud Baguenault de Puchesse, Bertrand Oldra, Christopher Szostak, Hugues Moreau, Jean-François Levraud, Nicolas Planchot et Constantin Miliotis, qui a été promu associé au début de l’année 2020. »
Legal 500 Paris 2022 - Immobilier

« Frédéric Nouel leads a team of acclaimed real estate lawyers: Eric Martin-Impératori, Renaud Baguenault de Puchesse, Christopher Szostak, Hugues Moreau, Kamel Ben Salah, Rémi Tabbagh and Laetitia Lemercier. »
Legal 500 EMEA 2022 - Real Estate

« Christopher Szostak is described as "an excellent lawyer with sound commercial judgement, who is tenacious in negotiations and proactive in his approach to managing clients." He acts on complex cross-border deals involving retail and office assets. »
Chambers Europe 2022 - Real Estate

« Finally, the practice fields one of the market’s most renowned real estate finance expertise, often acting for banks on the structuring of the market’s largest financings. Frédéric Nouel directs the strong practice which also includes: Stanislas Dwernicki, Eric Martin-Impératori, Renaud Baguenault de Puchesse, Bertrand Oldra, Christopher Szostak, Hugues Moreau, Jean-François Levraud, Nicolas Planchot and Constantin Miliotis, who made partner in early 2020. »
Legal 500 EMEA 2021

« Christopher Szostak enters the table this year following praise from the market. His caseload features large-scale acquisitions and disposals, often on behalf of foreign investors and asset managers. »
Chambers Europe 2021