Irell & Manella LLP's real estate practice group reflects the firm’s tradition of attracting entrepreneurial clients.  We represent a wide range of real estate developers, investors, owners, and operators, including many of California’s largest residential developers and some of the fastest growing retailers in the country.

The real estate practice group’s broad expertise includes acquisitions, dispositions, and development of residential, commercial, industrial, office, shopping center, gaming, mixed-use and resort projects; commercial leasing, including retail, office, and industrial, on behalf of landlords and tenants; and representation of both financial institutions (equity and debt) and borrowers in all types of secured and unsecured transactions, entity formation, tax planning, strategic alliances and joint ventures, environmental assessment, construction and land use entitlement and regulation.  Master planned communities and mixed use developments are a significant aspect of our real estate practice.  Our real estate practitioners are not only expert in all aspects of real estate law but are pragmatic problem solvers, offering creative alternatives for each client’s goals.

Our land use practice encompasses all aspects of state and federal law related to the regulation of land use and development, including land use entitlements (permits) and related litigation.  Our expertise includes general planning and zoning, specific plans, compliance with the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) and the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA), the Subdivision Map Act, conditional use permits, variances, vested rights, development agreements, initiatives and referendums, land use moratoriums, exactions, takings and inverse condemnation, design review, historic preservation, affordable housing, the California Coastal Act, redevelopment, school fees, endangered species, and wetlands protection (see the Land Use and Environmental practice area description for more information).

Irell & Manella’s land use practice has represented clients in obtaining entitlements from federal, state, and local agencies for nearly every type of major development project, including office buildings, shopping centers, industrial parks, residential subdivisions and master-planned communities, high-rises, condominiums, golf courses, entertainment centers, hotels, college and university campuses, art museums, hospitals, motion picture studios, professional sports stadiums, amusement parks, airports, cemeteries, pipelines, telecommunication facilities, and landfills.  The land use litigation practice includes both defending challenges to entitlements and challenging unreasonable restrictions and exactions imposed on developments.

The firm’s real estate practice expands beyond the traditional local practice and includes projects throughout the country, with the assistance of local counsel where appropriate.  The real estate practice group, in combination with the firm’s renowned intellectual property/high-technology practice group, provides its expertise to real estate owners and operators seeking to incorporate the latest communications technologies into their real estate assets.

For more information, please contact Anthony Pierotti.