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    4. Permitting & Land Use

      Practices

    Permitting & Land Use

    We combine regional experience with national perspective and resources to permit and develop cost-effective, complex real estate developments across asset classes.

    /Overview

    Nixon Peabody’s national Permitting & Land Use team is at the forefront of land use law in the top markets across the country. We represent developers, large landowners/users, and investors nationwide in the development of complex commercial real estate. From the early stages of land acquisition to post-construction focus on leasing, operations, or a potential exit, each stage of a real estate development project demands strategic foresight, deep understanding of market and regulatory realities, diligence, planning, and strategic negotiations to ensure maximum returns on investments. Nixon’s attorneys play a vital role in each client’s team of real estate advisors from site selection to disposition, offering practical real estate and business strategies based on our extensive knowledge of real estate transactions, development, and construction.

    Our work begins at site selection, and concludes at our client’s exit from an asset, including permitting and diligence from local jurisdictions through state and federal approvals. We also focus on complex disposition processes from government entities and private parties alike, and other development-specific agreements including reciprocal easement agreements, condominium and co-op creation, long-term ground leases, and finance-related parcelization. We have a deep bench of lawyers working across industries to represent all aspects of our clients’ interests, including public and project finance, taxation, tax credits, environmental and energy regulatory matters, and government relations. We leverage all forms of government subsidy to help our clients save costs while reaching successful resolutions.

    Our team includes experienced practitioners in land use law from Massachusetts, Rhode Island, New Hampshire, New York, Illinois, and California.

    /Recognition

    • Nixon Peabody has been named a Tier 1 National firm for Real Estate Law in the 2025 edition of Best Law Firms®.

    Representative Experience

      • Development of an art museum. Supervised the environmental impact report and addendum and obtained complex entitlements from both city and county to demolish four existing buildings and construct a new 350,000-square-foot art museum building crossing a major thoroughfare in Los Angeles.
      • Mixed-use development. Provided entitlement strategy and land use advice for 1.5 million-square-foot mixed-use development in downtown Los Angeles. 
      • Residential housing development. Provided entitlement strategy for up to 234 residential units and 48,000-square-foot retail space in Orange County.
      • Residential housing development. Obtained entitlements, including zoning variances, for 85 residential units with ground-floor retail in Riverside.
      • Wineries. Provided land use diligence and zoning/permitting advice for multiple wineries, tasting rooms, and hospitality centers throughout California.
      • Sports venues. Provided land use diligence and zoning/permitting advice for multiple sports venues and professional sports teams throughout California.
      • Ski Resort. Provided land use diligence of complex master plan entitlements for the acquisition and construction of ski resort amenities in northern California. 
      • Warehouse development. Supervised the environmental impact report and obtained entitlements and subdivision approvals for a 1.2 million-square-foot, five-building warehouse in Whittier.
      • Industrial campus development. Supervised the environmental impact report and obtained entitlements for an 875,000-square-foot light industrial campus in Menifee, including development agreement, zoning variances, and subdivision.
      • University housing. Represented a higher education client (lessor) throughout numerous student housing and medical office building ground lease transactions involving bond financing and public private partnerships. 
      • Public boarding high school development. Represented lenders on financing and entitlement analysis for various phases of the transit corridor redevelopment project in Los Angeles.
      • Hospital rehabilitation for mixed-use facility. Represented Cook County in negotiating a ground lease and redevelopment agreement for the redevelopment of the century-old Cook County Hospital into a mixed-use facility.
      • Governmental entity. Representing Cook County on developing contractual templates for developers seeking projects from the county.
      • Warehouse redevelopment. Representing one of North America’s largest developers of on-airport warehouse space, lobbied the Chicago City Council and the Chicago Department of Aviation for approvals of a major warehouse redevelopment project at O’Hare Airport.
      • New storefront development. Representing Home Depot in 28 states and Puerto Rico with the ground-up development of stores in newly developed shopping centers or urban locations.
      • Department store portfolio. Representing Kohl’s in 36 states on new store developments, de-malling, and redevelopments.
      • Shopping center redeveloped for mixed-use facility. Representing a national developer in the Chicago area in connection with two major redevelopment projects. The projects consist of converting empty shopping centers into mixed-use projects. In addition to the land use-specific work, the representation includes all aspects of the development work..
      • Environmental guidance for development site. Representing a Chicago-based developer on a 32-acre site in the northwest suburbs. The development site has 16 acres impacted by wetlands, floodway, flood plain, and a potential Department of Transportation taking for an overpass structure.
    • Master/Mixed-Use Developments: 

      • Private, mixed-use development. Represented a private developer of 25.5 acres on the Mystic River in Charlestown for 1.79 million square feet of mixed-use development including three lab-tech commercial buildings, two residential buildings, one hotel, and approximately 13 acres of new public open space, including a 2,070-square-foot flood-resilient integrated resiliency border.
      • Private, mixed-use development. Represented a private developer of 8.9 acres of land on Morrissey Boulevard in Dorchester for 1.55 million square feet of mixed-use development including three lab-tech commercial buildings, four residential buildings, and over one acre of new public open space.
      • Private, mixed-use development. Represented a private developer of six acres of land in the Fenway and Longwood Medical Area neighborhoods of Boston for 1.7 million square feet of mixed-use development including three lab-tech commercial buildings, two residential buildings, and over two acres of new public open space.
      • Private university. Represented the client in connection to their Institutional Master Plan for six new Institutional Projects in the next 10 years including three new dormitories, three new academic buildings, underground parking, and over two acres of new open space.

      Life Sciences Development: 

      • Real estate investment trust (REIT). Represented a private life sciences REIT of three projects in Boston, including one new 240,000-square-foot life sciences development, one new 425,000-square-foot life sciences campus, and over 1 million square feet of new life sciences buildings including one structure spanning the Massachusetts Turnpike.
      • Real estate investment trust (REIT). Represented a private life sciences REIT of four new life sciences projects. Two are in Boston: a life sciences campus with up to 785,000 square feet of new development and a second campus including up to 1.25 million square feet of new development. Two are in Wellesley, including the conversion of two office buildings into the town’s first commercial laboratories.
      • Private life sciences development. Represented a private developer of a single 340,000-square-foot life sciences building in the Boynton Yards neighborhood of Somerville.
      • Private life sciences development. Represented a private developer of the master planning and development of up to five new life sciences and tech buildings spanning the Green Line Extension in Somerville, in both the Inner Belt and Brickbottom neighborhoods.

      Housing: 

      • Affordable housing developer. Represented the client in a campaign to collaborate with local municipalities to adopt ordinances pursuant to an amendment to the state tax regulation to allow for more flexibility in the provision of property tax abatements for affordable housing projects.
      • Affordable housing developer. Represented the client, a developer of three affordable housing projects located in Malden.
      • Residential developer. Represented the client on two sister residential projects totaling over 200 units located across the street from each other in East Somerville.
      • Private developer. Represented a private developer on residential project located in Revere, including zoning amendment, subdivision, and site plan review.
      • Family office developer. Represented family office developer of three multi-family projects in Quincy totaling over 1,000 new units.

      Energy Projects: 

      • Electric vehicle facilities. Represented a Climatech start-up that is developing electric vehicle fleet hub facilities in and around Massachusetts to help accelerate the energy transition in the Commonwealth.
      • Battery farm. Represented a battery farm developer in site selection of first Massachusetts project located in Everett.
      • Industrial campus development. Represented an international corporation in site control, permitting, land use, and the construction of new manufacturing and office space campuses in Rochester, Epping, and Exeter, NH. Financing included funding from the New Hampshire Business Finance Authority.
      • Industrial campus development. Serving as outside general counsel as well as site control, permitting, and land use counsel for an international company expanding its primary existing facility in Londonderry, NH, in addition to 20+ other sites across northern New England.
      • Ski Resort. Representation of private ski resort owners in Lincoln and Danbury, NH, in permitting and land use to expand lodging and internal roadways.
      • Seniors Living Development. Representation of a private developer in the permitting, land use, finance, and construction of a 190-unit independent living and memory support facility in Londonderry, NH.
      • Healthcare. Representation of our client in the site control, permitting, land use, and construction of a medical facility in Lincoln, NH. 
      • Cell tower and cell development. Represented three (3) wireless infrastructure companies focused on the development and management of cell towers in numerous wireless telecommunication projects throughout New Hampshire.
      • Natural Gas Pipeline Company. Serving as outside general counsel as well as site control, permitting and land use counsel for natural gas pipeline company developing multi-state infrastructure project.
      • Battery Storage Developer. Representation of a battery storage developer in permitting and land use for a project located in Moultonborough, NH.
      • Renewable Energy Developers. Representation for numerous renewable energy developers permitting, acquiring, and/or selling utility scale solar energy facilities across NH and ME.
      • Energy Company. Representation of an out-of-state energy company’s acquisition of a wind farm in Berlin, NH. Representation included site control, permitting, and land use counsel.
      • Lender. Representation of a lender in the financing of a hydro power facility in Hillsborough, NH.
      • New manufacturing facility. Representing a food products company in the development of a $120 million dairy processing facility in Aurelius, New York. The project includes a joint venture between the client and a French company, and requires cross-border negotiations between the parties. The 106,000-square-foot manufacturing facility will process more than 600,000 pounds of milk per year from regional dairy farmers.
      • State-of-the-art distribution center. Represented an online grocery delivery service in all aspects of a major new project at the Harlem River Yards in the Bronx, including advising on governmental incentives, EB-5 finance, real estate, litigation, and construction matters.
      • Renewable energy developments. Represented a supplier of energy solutions for a variety of industries, with numerous renewable energy development projects throughout New York, Ohio, Connecticut, and Wisconsin. These projects are on the cutting edge of the LNG industry and include procurement of the land and energy rights, as well as negotiation of joint partnership and investor agreements.
      • Cell tower and rooftop cell development. Represented a wireless infrastructure company focused on the development and management of cell towers and rooftop cell sites, in numerous wireless telecommunication projects throughout upstate New York.
      • Zoning for wireless telecommunication company. Representing one of the nation’s largest wireless telecommunications companies to obtain zoning approvals for communications towers for more than 2,000 cell sites throughout New York, Pennsylvania, Maine, and New Hampshire, including appearances before zoning, planning, and municipal boards. NP has also served as primary land use litigation counsel at the trial court and appellate court levels to overturn denials of approvals by local boards and on all aspects of real estate involved in the easement and lease acquisitions of the sites.
      • University expansion projects. Advising multiple universities in large-scale expansion projects, which include land use, zoning, and construction contracts.
    Jennifer R. Schultz | Land Use & Permitting Lawyer | Nixon Peabody LLP
    Now, more than ever, commercial real estate development requires a multi-disciplinary approach to determine the best entitlement strategies in ever changing and complex markets. It’s not enough to get projects approved; they must be financeable and affordable with an eye towards the markets of tomorrow.

    Jennifer R. SchultzPartner / Leader, National Permitting & Land Use Practice

    Our Team

    See Full Team
    • Jared C. Lusk

      Partner / Office Managing Partner, Rochester
      • Rochester
      • Office:+1 585.263.1140
      • jlusk@nixonpeabody.com
      Jared C. Lusk
    • Jennifer R. Schultz

      Partner / Leader, National Permitting & Land Use Practice
      • Boston
      • Office:+1 617.345.6071
      • jschultz@nixonpeabody.com
      Jennifer R.  Schultz
    • Robert W. Burgdorf

      Partner
      • Rochester
      • Office:+1 585.263.1333
      • rburgdorf@nixonpeabody.com
      Robert W. Burgdorf
    • Bryan C. LeRoy

      Partner
      • Los Angeles
      • Office:+1 213.629.6118
      • bleroy@nixonpeabody.com
      Bryan C. LeRoy
    • Jordan A. Smith

      Counsel
      • Boston
      • Office:+1 617.345.1205
      • jasmith@nixonpeabody.com
      Jordan A. Smith
    • Karla L. Chaffee

      Counsel
      • Boston
      • Office:+1 617.345.6146
      • kchaffee@nixonpeabody.com
      Karla L. Chaffee
    See Full Team

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