Development is one of the core strengths of our real estate practice. We offer clients a wealth of experience in taking complex development projects from concept to completion.
Over the past few decades, our attorneys have represented developers in many of the major new projects that have made Washington, DC the top choice of the international investment community. We have handled the development of trophy office buildings (The Warner, 2099 Pennsylvania Avenue, The Investment Building, the Bowen Building, 800 17th Street, and 1999 K Street, US Department of Transportation headquarters, etc.); major hotels (Mandarin Oriental Washington DC, Hotel Monaco, Embassy Suites Convention Center, etc.); destination retail projects (Gallery Place); arts, cultural, and entertainment venues (The Harman Center for the Arts, The International Spy Museum, the Museum of Crime & Punishment, Madame Toussauds Wax Museum, etc.); and large-scale mixed use projects (Waterfront Station).
Our representation of developers involves the full range of legal services, from site assemblage and entitlements to equity and debt financing to design/construction and lease-up. Every phase of a development project requires a comprehensive understanding of every other phase in the full life-cycle of the project, as well as a unique blend of market knowledge, business savvy, political acumen, legal judgment. Our development lawyers offer all this, with the benefit of the combined experience of several hundred years of practice.
We often use our development skill-set for the benefit of parties engaged in transactions with developers. We regularly represent non-profits, institutions, colleges and universities, corporations, governments and family interests doing business with developers. These transactions involve a wide range of projects. Recent examples include the representation of Catholic University of America in the redevelopment of its South Campus; The George Washington University in the development of Square 54 on Pennsylvania Avenue; the Washington Convention and Sports Authority in the development of a 1,100 key headquarters hotel adjoining the new Convention Center; and The Anacostia Waterfront Corporation, an instrumentality of the District of Columbia government, in the redevelopment of the ballpark district surrounding the Washington Nationals’ new baseball stadium.
Increasingly, large-scale development projects entail some form of public participation or public/private partnership. This participation may be in the form of the acquisition of publicly-owned land, tax increment financing, payments in lieu of taxes, special assessment districts, or special legislation to facilitate a project. In Washington, DC, we handle all aspects of the administrative and legislative processes at the intersection of real estate deals and public policy. We have been at the cutting edge of many of these initiatives, including authoring the Washington, DC Tax Increment Financing law, the Downtown Retail Incentive Act and the legislation establishing a special assessment district for the New York Avenue Metro Station, among others.