Real Estate

Represented Napa Valley luxury wine producer Far Niente Family of Wineries & Vineyards in its acquisition of the Provenance Vineyards real estate in Rutherford, Calif. from Treasury Wine Estates. Far Niente purchased the property as the new home for its Bella Union brand. Farella also advised Far Niente on the concurrent sale of the Provenance brand and inventory to Lodi, Calif.'s Thomas Allen Vineyard & Wines.

Represented the joint venture of Hines, Urban Pacific Development, and Goldman Sachs to secure approval for the construction of a 61-story, 800-foot tall mixed-use tower adjacent to the Transbay Terminal on Howard St. known as Transbay Parcel F. It will be the fourth-tallest building and second tallest residential tower in San Francisco. 

In the face of well-organized opposition, we assisted Seven Hill Properties resist a CEQA appeal to the San Francisco Board of Supervisors and obtain entitlements for a mixed-use project in San Francisco's Mission District.

We assist First Republic Bank with structuring, drafting and negotiating loan documents for its individual and business clients for business acquisition loans, real estate acquisition loans, short and long term real estate term loans, equity and accounts receivable secured personal and commercial lines of credit, real estate construction loans and loans for buy-outs and recapitalizations.

We represented San Francisco Overlook Development in obtaining entitlements for its Crestmont Drive residential development in the Forest Knolls neighborhood of San Francisco located in Supervisorial District 7, and then assisted the team settle a lawsuit brought against the project by the adjacent homeowners association.

Obtained a use permit and variance from Napa County to allow this premium winery to convert an existing residence on an adjacent property into a new hospitality center for the existing winery.  The new facilities will accommodate up to 150 visitors per day for private events such as dinners and wine-education programs.

Represented Hathaway Dinwiddie Construction Company, the design/builder, in preparing and negotiating design/build agreements with the State of California and in negotiating agreements with design professionals for the 500,000 square foot Oakland State Office Building.

Handle winery’s general business matters, as well as acquisition matters for its owner, Bill Price, including Price’s investments in ultra-premium Kistler Vineyards.

Representing SKS Investments in converting an historic but obsolete industrial and showroom building to a state-of-the art technology office building in San Francisco’s South of Market district. 

After obtaining land use entitlements, including general plan amendments, rezoning and conditional use approvals for the 55 Laguna mixed-use development project located at the former University of California Berkeley Extension Campus in San Francisco, we prevailed in the Superior Court and Court of Appeal (unpublished decision) defending client AF Evans Development, Inc. in a CEQA lawsuit challenging the City of San Francisco's approvals for the project (Save the Laguna Street Campus v. City and County of San Francisco, et al.). 55 Laguna provides multifamily apartments, affordable senior units, public spaces, and retail space. The project includes a combination of new construction, the adaptive reuse of three historically significant buildings and the demolition of two others, which was the focus of the litigation.

Represented SFMOMA in obtaining land use approvals for a major expansion of its facilities in the Yerba Buena district of San Francisco, including new galleries to display the Doris and Donald Fisher Collection.  The project included the relocation of a City fire station off-site, acquisition of City property, air rights and right-of-way, and the replacement of two historic resources with the museum addition and new fire station.

Represented the seller, Johns Manville, in the sale of this former manufacturing site of asphalt and asbestos roofing materials, which was contaminated with asbestos, petroleum hydrocarbons and various volatile organic compounds.  The sale to Pittsburg River Park, LLC, an affiliate of Renova Partners, involved the shifting of various environmental responsibilities and liabilities to the buyer, which obligations were secured and backed by deeds of trust and insurance programs.

We have represented TNDC on numerous affordable housing projects in San Francisco, including the Rosa Parks II senior project in the Western Addition, the Kelly Cullen Community and the Eddy and Taylor Family Housing in the Tenderloin neighborhood.  We are currently assisting TNDC in obtaining entitlements for the 909 Howard Street project in the South of Market neighborhood.

Represented CBRE Global Investors in the sale of the nearly 368,000 square foot Murphy Crossing campus in Milpitas for $88 million.