Practice Strengths

Baker Hostetler’s Real Estate Development and Land Use practice focuses on the representation of public and privately held organizations, as principals in development, ownership and operation of commercial, industrial, residential, retail and hotel/leisure property.

From pre-development planning, formation of joint ventures, partnerships and limited liability business arrangements, creation of planned use developments, subdivision, annexation, land use entitlements, condominium regimes, public-private infrastructure projects and vertical construction, our lawyers focus on every aspect of land use planning and development.

The full range of legal services provided to our clients centers on both national and region-specific legal issues, including all facets of land use, development, financing, leasing, construction, conveyancing, environmental compliance and zoning issues, as well as in areas of tax law related to entity formation.

Our organizational structure and one-firm philosophy provide an invaluable asset to our clients which include owners, developers, operators, managers and investors in all industries involving real estate. Baker Hostetler’s unique combination of local, regional and national market skills and capabilities distinguishes us from most of our competitors. Our multidisciplinary capabilities have helped our clients achieve their objectives. We have the ability to secure the crucial state and federal government approval of land use and environmental approvals on the time-sensitive basis that developers require. Additionally, we can counsel clients in the feasibility of obtaining tax abatements and other financial incentives from state and local governments.

Leadership in Action

Real Estate Development: Creating a new community in the cities of DeLand and Lake Helen, Florida.

Client: The St. Joe Company

Type of Matter: Master planned mixed-use community development in the cities of DeLand and Lake Helen, Florida, known as Victoria Park.

Our Client's Challenge: Take 1,800 acres of undeveloped and unentitled land, a significant portion of which is in unincorporated Volusia County, and develop a strategy for annexation into the City of DeLand, plan for the joint development with the City of Lake Helen of a Development of Regional Impact, and obtain all of the requisite local, state, and federal permits to fully entitle the project.

The Goal: Create a large mixed-use, master-planned development that seamlessly integrates into the fabric of both cities by creating an open-space system coupled with a balanced transportation system, and an array of distinctive neighborhoods and village centers which include a mix of uses such as office, retail and housing, all within one larger community.

Our Strategy: To accomplish the objective, the developer and Baker Hostetler lawyers created in collaboration with land planners and engineers, a master development plan that included creating a new land use designation called “New Community Development" which allowed for the use of innovative land use techniques, creative urban design, environmental protection and the judicious use of sustainable development, principles and practices. Victoria Park combined the qualities of the historical neighborhoods of both cities with the progressive attributes of today’s successful communities. The plan recognized the value of careful preservation and cultivation of the natural environment, and the creation of pedestrian-friendly neighborhoods that contributed to an attractive small-town scale. Additionally, an ordinance approved by both cities incorporated not only the state and federal environmental resource permits, but a Site Mitigation and Management Plan that assures the long-term management of the ecological resources of the property will integrate seamlessly with the built environment of the project.

Results: Victoria Park is today the fastest selling community in Volusia County, Florida, and is several years ahead of its schedule in the absorption of housing product.

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Representative Experience:

• Handled many aspects from the ground up, including land acquisition and financing, for a major regional hospital system's new $200 million hospital north of Cincinnati, Ohio.
• Represented a large shopping center real estate investment trust in a $1.2 billion merger with another publicly held shopping center company.
• Represented the developer of The Loop, a mixed-use retail, residential, office and hotel development with approximately 1.2 million square feet of retail, 300,000 square feet of office, 100-room hotel and 500 residential units in Charlotte County, Florida.
• Represented the developer of Harmony, an 11,000-acre planned community between Kissimmee and Melbourne, Florida, that embodies cutting-edge environmental concepts for harmony among people, animals (pets and wild) and landscaping.
• Represented the developer of a 6,250-acre mixed-use new community development with various housing types including age-restricted active adult, town centers with retail, office and commercial, golf, and other amenities in Volusia County, Florida.
• Represented a developer and a community development district in negotiating and completing the planning, permitting and construction of 1,552-acre wetland mitigation site allowing the construction of approximately 2,200 acres of development in Weston, Florida. The project took almost five years to permit because of its proximity to the Florida Everglades, the uniqueness of the ecology that was to be part of the mitigation plan, and the uniqueness of several mitigation components such as a muck seepage barrier designed to impede subsurface flow of water from the Everglades, thereby improving surface hydrology. 
• Represented WCI Communities and the Pelican Bay Services Division of Collier County in successfully envisioning, permitting and constructing modifications to the hydrology of Clam Bay, a conservation area in Naples, Florida. After extensive negotiations with the Army Corps of Engineers, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, and the Florida Department of Environmental Protection, a plan was designed, permitted and constructed to permanently restore the hydrology of the Clam Bay system and ensure its self-sustainability. 
• Represented a developer client in the design and implementation of a wetland mitigation program for the development of the Connerton project in Pasco County,
  Florida, which involved the concurrent sale of 3,500 acres of the land within the Connerton envelope to the Southwest Florida Water Management District and the subsequent ability to utilize that land for wetland mitigation and mitigation for impacts to the Scrub Jay habitat.
• Represented the developer of a 600-acre commercial mixed use development including negotiation of local, state and federal loans and grants and tax increment financing.
• Represented owners of an industrial waterfront site in New Jersey in connection with its repositioning as a residential community.
• Restructured a six-party ownership of a $45 million multi-parcel, improved real property, including implementation of control and buy-out provisions and mechanisms for further development of the property, including its mineral interests and water rights.
• Represented the developer of a 600-acre commercial mixed use development.
• Represented the owners and developer of a 400-acre tract of land located south of Houston, Texas. Approximately 220 acres will be developed as a residential community and the remaining acreage will be developed with a regional commercial/retail shopping development by a major national developer.
• Represented the developer of a 140-acre parcel of land in the Denver suburbs for a combined residential and retail development, including acquisition; annexation; zoning; subdivision that incorporated the prior owners' existing residences as separate included lots; purchasing and plugging and abandoning an operating oil well; extinguishing rights of the Union Pacific Railroad to mine coal; negotiation of a development agreement with the local municipality; and sale of the subdivided property to a major national builder.
• Represented the owners and developer of a 500-acre master-planned residential and commercial development in San Antonio, Texas.

About Our Real Estate Team

Baker Hostetler's Real Estate team has a history of getting projects developed and deals done. Our firm has the multidisciplinary strengths to solve all the complex contractual, environmental and tax problems that can arise in single-use or multi-use developments. We regularly work on multimillion dollar projects, and our team includes lawyers recognized by their peers as being at the top of their game.