Land Use

Residential/Mixed-Use

• Secured entitlements for a master plan project in San Ramon involving 4,500 residential units, a 169-key hotel, 166,000 square feet of commercial space, along with extensive park areas and featuring multiple development agreements.
• Gained land use approvals for five separate projects in Oakland’s Jack London Square featuring over 1,000 apartment units and a hotel.
• Obtained initial and revised land use entitlements for six separate apartment tower projects in Downtown Oakland, totaling approximately 2,000 units.
• Advised a local government in connection with the largest project in California processed under SB 35 (ministerial approval for certain affordable housing projects).
• Secured land use entitlements for multi-family projects in the downtowns of Antioch, Berkeley, Danville, Fairfield, Hercules, Lafayette, Oakland, San Ramon, Vacaville, Monte Sereno and Walnut Creek to meet public agencies’ housing requirements under state law.
• Obtained entitlements for the West Oakland BART Station (Mandela Station) project including over 700 residential units, 382,460 square feet of office space, and 75,000 square feet of retail.
• Successfully defended Fremont’s Warm Springs/South Fremont Community Plan – spanning 900 acres and including up to 4,000 homes and 11 million square feet of commercial/office and retail uses – from a lawsuit claiming California Environmental Quality Act and Planning and Zoning law violations.
• Obtained land use entitlements for four large apartment buildings in Downtown Berkeley, each featuring a density bonus, to help address the City’s critical need for student housing.
• Obtained land use entitlements, including CEQA compliance, for the tallest residential tower in Oakland, consisting of over 600 units and utilizing a density bonus.
• Represented numerous developers in obtaining approvals for, and developing, large master planned communities throughout Northern California.
• Represented Oakland and the World Enterprises to develop affordable housing for formerly incarcerated people and to provide commercial space for for-profit businesses to be owned by such individuals.

Commercial/Industrial

• Represented one of the largest real estate developers in United States in securing land use approvals for logistic centers – including approval of a two million square foot logistics center in Oakley, CA and Sacramento County, CA.
• Represented the Oakland Athletics in connection with the purchase and redevelopment of the Coliseum site.
• Obtained land use entitlements, including CEQA compliance, and negotiated construction and management contracts for a 263-room international hotel and 250-unit apartment complex in Silicon Valley.
• Represented industrial landowners and facility owners in Alameda and Contra Costa County Counties in obtaining land use approvals to operate and expand their facilities.

Office

• Obtained land use entitlements, including CEQA compliance and addressing historic resource issues, for the largest office complex in Oakland at over 1.6 million square feet; the project also involved drafting and negotiating a disposition and development agreement with the City.
• Secured land use entitlements for two alternative versions of an office tower in downtown Oakland, including one measuring 1.1 million square feet. 

Government/Institutional/Educational/Publications

• Serve as general counsel for Alameda County Transportation Commission and other Bay Area transportation agencies; assist with environmental clearance, property acquisition and project implementation of significant regional transportation infrastructure improvements, including the $350 million GoPort project.
• Act as legal counsel to 10 geological hazard abatement districts (GHADs) in California and advise landowners/developers/local governments in forming and operating GHADs.
• Processed and secured land use approvals for mental health facilities throughout California for a major health care provider.
• Served as land use counsel to a large Bay Area provider of charter schools.
• Represented recycling and resource recovery company to expand and improve facility in eastern Contra Costa County.
• Serve as principal author of Development Easements chapter for Continuing Education of the Bar (CEB) easement and boundaries treatise, and serve as annual update editor.
• Co-author national land use book, State & Local Government Land Use Liability (Thomson Reuters), updated annually.