Our attorneys represent clients before local, state and federal governments in obtaining all necessary entitlements, permits and legislative approvals for the development and use of real estate. We have significant experience appearing before administrative and legislative units of government, which enables us to assist our clients in navigating the expanding maze of regulations affecting the development and use of real estate. We have counseled clients with respect to rezonings, special and conditional use approvals, variances, vertical and horizontal subdivisions, historic preservation and landmark designations, reciprocal easement agreements (“REAs”), covenants, conditions and restrictions (“CCRs”), restrictive covenants, and utility and right-of-way easements. We also counsel clients on solutions to minimize the costs of large-scale development (including development incentives, public financing and impact fees and exactions), alternatives for the ownership and control of developments, and the purchase and sale of development sites and completed development projects.

The collective experience of our Land Use and Development Group enables us to advise clients throughout the lifecycle of a real estate development project. Our land use and development clients include commercial real estate developers, Fortune 100 corporations, individual business operators, entrepreneurs and land owners and developers. Some examples of the land use, development, design and construction projects that our attorneys have handled include:

• Assembling multiple real estate parcels, obtainment of zoning and land use approvals, and negotiating and drafting of one of the country’s first integrated project delivery contracts for the development, design and construction of a $200 million public/private biomedical research facility for the Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation.
  
  
• Assembling multiple real estate parcels, and negotiating and drafting of design and construction contracts for the development, design and construction of a $200 million cultural arts and entertainment facility.
  
  
• Serving as lead counsel in the acquisition from Arizona State University (ASU) of fee title to 11 acres, and long-term ground lease option rights for an additional 16 acres along the lakefront of Tempe Town Lake. The intensive negotiations were the culmination of years of effort by SunCor Development Company to achieve a partnership with ASU for the development of valuable commercial property ASU owns, next to its football stadium. The 26-acre parcel is also adjacent to SunCor’s existing 17-acre Hayden Ferry Lakeside development (a mixed-use project with office, retail, hotel and condominium components), for which Quarles & Brady is serving as counsel for the majority of the legal work related to that project.
  
  
• Representing Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. in the approval and development of an approximately 200,000 SF Supercenter on approximately 20 acres in Lockport, Illinois. The public hearings proceeded over several months, with Quarles & Brady overseeing and presenting a team of experts to support the project. Additionally, Quarles successfully defended the approval of the project against an objector’s lawsuit, filed by neighboring residents.
  
  
• Representing United Parcel Service in the assembly of multiple real estate parcels from multiple property owners, obtainment of zoning and land use approvals and tax increment financing, and a land exchange under IRC § 1033. The project involved an operating package distribution facility serving all of downtown Chicago, which had to remain in operation while improvements were constructed on replacement parcels so that existing UPS parcels could be contributed to a university redevelopment project.

For more information on how we can help with your land use and development needs, please contact Diane M. Haller at (602) 229-5625 or diane.haller@quarles.com.