Experience

  • Contracts and Agreements
  • Geothermal
  • Solar
  • Tax Credits

America’s Cup Pavilion, San Francisco

Represented Live Nation in defeating a last-minute appeal of the entertainment permit authorizing Live Nation to present a summer concert series in conjunction with the America’s Cup sailing races in a temporary 9,000-seat pavilion at San Francisco’s Piers 27/29.

Institute on Aging/BRIDGE Housing Corporation

Assisted the Institute on Aging and BRIDGE Housing Corporation in obtaining land use entitlements to demolish the vacant Coronet Theater in San Francisco’s Richmond District and replace it with a mixed-use project containing two floors of health and social services for seniors and low-income senior rental units above.  In the face of intense opposition from some immediate neighbors, we obtained unanimous votes from both the San Francisco Planning Commission and Board of Supervisors, and successfully defended the project’s EIR and use permit in San Francisco Superior Court. 

Piers 1½, 3, and 5, San Francisco

Represented San Francisco Waterfront Partners in its acquisition, entitlement, financing, leasing and management of Piers 1½, 3 & 5, an historic waterfront property in San Francisco, California.  The revitalized Piers 1½, 3 and 5 on San Francisco's historic waterfront have been named among the 17 finalists nationwide for the Urban Land Institute's annual 2010 Award for Excellence, which were selected from a list of 170 entries from all over the Americas.

Sherman Plaza East & West, Van Nuys, CA

Represented Embarcadero Capital Investors with its disposition of office property Sherman Plaza East & West in Van Nuys. The property was acquired by Majestic Investments for $49.5 million and houses tenants such as the State of California Franchise Tax Board, General Services Administration and North Los Angeles County Regional Center.

Winery Site Acquisition - Pritchard Hill, Napa Valley

Represented members of the renowned Mondavi family in their acquisition of a prestigious Pritchard Hill vineyard property in Napa County, adjacent to a winery property they acquired last year, also with our help.  The Mondavis plan to design and build a new estate winery on the site, and we are working with them on the entitlements process.

First Solar - Campo Verde

Served as corporate, environmental, real estate and permitting counsel on the acquisition, development and sale of the Campo Verde Solar Project, a 139-megawatt solar photovoltaic facility located on a 1,443-acre site in Imperial County, Calif.

California College of the Arts

Represented CCA in this project, including construction-related agreements, ground lease and off-balance sheet tax exempt bond financing.

Transbay Parcel F and Block 4 Projects

Counsel to a partnership of Hines, Goldman Sachs and Urban Pacific to entitle a 750-foot tall mixed use tower (office, hotel and residential) that will be the fourth tallest in San Francisco immediately adjacent to the under construction Transbay Terminal and a 550-foot residential tower nearby. 

Grand Hyatt, Union Square, San Francisco

Assisted Hyatt Equities with defending the Grand Hyatt's favorable position in a limited queue of hotel rooms eligible for conversion to condominiums in the face of an appeal by UNITE HERE, the local hotel workers' union.

Circle S Ranch Acquisition

Represented the Read family in its acquisition of Napa’s Circle S Ranch.

555 Howard Street and 1125 Market Street

Counsel to Pacific Eagle, a Singapore based investor/developer, in obtaining land use entitlements for two hotel projects in San Francisco. 555 Howard is a 385-foot mixed hotel/residential tower in the Transbay District that will be the first commercial building in San Francisco designed by Renzo Piano Building Workshop. 

Miracle Mile Office Tower, Los Angeles

Represented The Swig Company in its $150 million joint venture purchase of 6300 Wilshire Blvd., a Class A office building in the Miracle Mile.

Sale of Historic Wakefield Building, Oakland

Represented The Swig Company and STARS Real Estate Investments in the $29.9 million sale of the historic Wakefield Building in Oakland, Calif. The 1920s building includes 56,666-square-feet of creative office space and is LEED Gold certified.

NetApp Sunnyvale Campus Expansion

Representing NetApp, Inc. with land use entitlements, property acquisition and construction agreements related to the expansion of its Sunnyvale, Calif. campus.

1500 Mission Street Project, San Francisco

Counsel to The Related Companies in obtaining environmental clearance, rezoning and land use entitlements for the 1500 Mission Street Project that will couple over 550 units of rental housing with a new office building and permit center to be design/built by Related for the City and County of San Francisco.

800 Brotherhood Way, San Francisco

Obtained entitlements for the subdivision of a large site near Lake Merced in southwestern San Francisco into 121 lots for the construction of 182 single-family homes and duplexes.  After defeating an administrative appeal of the project's mitigated negative declaration, we successfully defended the project approvals in the Superior Court and California Court of Appeal, and successfully defended a separate Superior Court challenge to the City's issuance of a tree removal permit.

Historic Pasadena Office Complex

Represented Swig Co. LLC in its $26.1 million purchase of a 72,500-square-foot office complex and adjacent parking garage in Pasadena, CA.

Office Building Purchase, Pasadena CA

We represented The Swig Company in its acquisition of an eight-story, 85,860-square foot office building in downtown Pasadena’s Playhouse District.

1066 Market Street, San Francisco

Counsel to Shorenstein Properties in obtaining land use entitlements for a 305-unit residential project in San Francisco’s Mid-Market/Tenderloin neighborhood, including the drafting and negotiating of an ordinance authorizing a unique off-site affordable housing strategy in order to resolve an appeal of the project’s permit.  

California Railroad Museum Foundation, Sacramento

Assisted in the expansion of the California Railroad Museum in Sacramento, including federal historic tax credits, acquisition, development and construction documentation, environmental contamination issues.

American Conservatory Theater (A.C.T.) Strand Theater Project

Assisted American Conservatory Theater (A.C.T.) in developing the Strand Theater, a new performing arts facility on Market Street. Tasks have included real estate transactional representation, tax exempt entity formation and qualification, land use entitlements and New Market and Historic tax credits expertise.

8th and Harrison Street and 1000 16th Street, San Francisco

Counsel to Archstone in obtaining land use entitlements for two 400+ unit residential projects in San Francisco’s South of Market and Potrero Hill districts.

Nick Podell Companies

In 2016, we obtained land use entitlements for a controversial residential project in San Francisco’s Mission District at 2000 Bryant Street, dubbed the “Beast on Bryant” by project opponents, including obtaining a unanimous vote at the Board of Supervisors to reject an appeal of the project’s CEQA exemption and large project authorization. We worked extensively with the Mayor’s Office of Housing and Community Development to fashion a land dedication alternative to satisfy the project’s inclusionary housing obligation and enable MOHCD to build a 100% affordable development on a portion of the project site.

One Rincon Hill, San Francisco

Obtained the land use entitlements for our client Urban West Associates of San Diego to construct two high-rise residential towers atop San Francisco's Rincon Hill, one of 59 stories and the other of 47 stories, totaling 709 condominiums and townhouses. Our representation included negotiating a General Plan amendment and rezoning for the entire Rincon Hill area, obtaining a height limit increase from 200 feet to 550 feet, obtaining permits to demolish a historic structure on the site, negotiating a feasible impact fee package and the formation of a Mello-Roos community facilities district to finance those fees.

Berkeley-Albany YMCA Teen Center

Assisted with the acquisition, construction and New Markets Tax Credits (NMTC) Program, which permits taxpayers to receive a credit against federal income taxes for making qualified equity investments in designated Community Development Entities (CDEs).

Development of Elephant Preserve

Representing the Ndovo Foundation in the acquisition and development of a 4,900 acre preserve for African elephants in Tehama County.

Landbank Corporate Campus, Sunnyvale

Land use entitlements and transactions related to a 750,000 sq. ft. corporate campus development in Sunnyvale, California.

National Real Estate Advisors/Emerald Fund: 100 and 150 Van Ness Avenue

Representing an affiliate of a national construction trades pension fund in obtaining land use approvals to convert an obsolete San Francisco office building obtained in foreclosure to 400 rental apartments and construction next of an additional 420 units in a new building next door. After building permits were issued, we successfully defeated an appeal of a construction permit filed by an adjoining property owner.

Levi Strauss Headquarters Lease

Represented Levi Strauss & Company in the negotiation of the renewal of its headquarters lease at Levi's Plaza in San Francisco, California, a transaction involving over 500,000 rentable square feet of office space.  Levi Strauss & Co. is one of the world's largest branded apparel companies and the global leader in jeanswear, marketing its products in more than 110 countries worldwide.

Fort Mason Center, San Francisco

Financing and tax credit investment for rehabilitation of historic structures at Fort Mason in the San Francisco Golden Gate National Recreation Area. Assisted with the National Parks Service lease. 

Firm Highlights

Publication

AB 1633: The Housing Accountability Act

The Housing Accountability Act (HAA) requires local agencies to approve housing projects that meet objective zoning, general plan, subdivision, and design standards unless there is a specific, adverse impact upon public health and safety...

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Publication

Nonprofit Tenants and Lease Agreements: Best Practices and Pitfalls to Avoid

Welcome to  EO Radio Show – Your Nonprofit Legal Resource . I'm Cynthia Rowland, and today, we are again lucky to have Farella real estate partner Quinn Arntsen with us to talk about leasing...

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News

Farella 2024 Partner Elevations: Cynthia Castillo and Greg LeSaint

Northern California legal powerhouse Farella Braun + Martel is pleased to announce the election of two lawyers to partnership effective Jan. 1: Cynthia Castillo and Greg LeSaint. “We are thrilled to elevate Cynthia and...

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News

Brookfield Forecloses on 2,150-Unit Veritas Portfolio With Uncontested $464M Bid

Restructuring, insolvency, and creditors rights partner Gary Kaplan provided expert commentary in The Real Deal  article, "Brookfield forecloses on 2,150-unit Veritas portfolio with uncontested $464M bid." Read the full article  here  (subscription may be...

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Publication

Regulatory Changes Underway To Address Dwindling California Property Insurance Market

We keep hearing about how difficult it is for our clients to get property insurance these days, both for homes and businesses in Northern California’s wildfire-prone areas. Which, of course, is most of Northern...

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News

This Real Estate Company Dumped Its Downtown San Francisco Mall. Now It’s Gobbling Up Apartments

Restructuring, insolvency, and creditors rights partner Gary Kaplan provided expert commentary in The  San Francisco Standard  article, "This Real Estate Company Dumped Its Downtown San Francisco Mall. Now It’s Gobbling Up Apartments." Read the full...

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News

Affordable Housing Outlook: What Challenges Will 2024 Pose?

Real estate partner CJ Higley provided expert commentary in the Multi-Housing News article "Affordable Housing Outlook: What Challenges Will 2024 Pose?" The article is available here .

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Publication

A Summary of New Laws Coming for California Employers in 2024

In 2023, California has adopted several new employment laws either introducing new employee protections or codifying existing practices into state law. With these changes, employers will need to examine and adjust some of their...

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Publication

Achieving Compatibility Between Solar Project Developers and Mineral Estate Holders

By Dirk R. Mueller , Alyssa Netto , and Will Russ Texas and California lead the country in terms of solar energy generating capacity while also maintaining major oil and gas production operations, which...

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News

Ashley Breakfield Elected 2024 President of CREW SF

Farella Braun + Martel is proud to announce that real estate and land use partner Ashley E. Breakfield has been elected president of the Commercial Real Estate Women of San Francisco (CREW SF) Board...

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