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Cooley Godward Kronish's Land Use and Zoning team assists owners, developers and investors with all facets of land use and zoning including planning, development, entitlement, operation and leasing. Our attorneys have vast experience and have built a solid reputation for handling high-profile, complicated zoning cases for national, regional and local companies.
The team's expertise and strong relationships in the local jurisdictions prove invaluable in helping clients acquire critical approvals, such as comprehensive plan amendments, special exceptions, rezonings, variances, special use permits, bond approvals, wetlands permits and subdivision and/or site plan approvals.
Based in the firm's Reston office, our Land Use team has secured properties and obtained the necessary approvals for some of Northern Virginia's largest developments including office, retail, hotel, industrial, mixed use and large, planned communities. The West Coast offices also have overseen signature developments and permitting projects.
Representative transactions include advising:
- The owners of Tysons Corner Center, one of the country's premier shopping centers, on receiving land use approvals for the 3+ million- square-foot, multi-year, multi-phased expansion. The expansion will integrate office, hotel, retail and residential towers into the transit-oriented development to complement the planned adjacent Metro station.
- Miller and Smith and The Meridian Group in obtaining entitlement to build the 4.4-million-square-foot One Loudoun development, a true mixed-use center complete with high-quality office, retail, restaurants and residential elements. This employment center is a member of the World Trade Center International Chamber of Commerce, and is one of only three U.S. regions to receive the prestigious International Association of Science Parks designation.
- Manchester Pacific Gateway, the developer of Navy Broadway Complex, on obtaining complex CCDC approvals of development plan, successfully challenging the California Coastal Commission permit requirement, and various other environmental and land use challenges, all in connection with the nearly 15-acre, 3-million-square-foot, mixed-use waterfront project.
- Property owners and developers throughout the Reston Town Center, one of the country's premier planned communities, on rezoning requests, development plans and special exceptions to promote the mixed-use environment. The Reston Town Center has become a national model for successful, pedestrian-oriented, integrated, mixed-use developments.
- Vornado Realty Trust on converting the Springfield Mall into a vibrant town center that will integrate Class-A office, residential homes and a boutique hotel with an infusion of new retailers and restaurants. These complex rezoning and comprehensive plan requests are pending with Fairfax County.
- The owners of a 500+ unit, 10-acre residential development in the Kearney Mesa submarket of San Diego to obtain San Diego City Council approval of the project, including tripartite settlement with San Diego City Attorney's office and San Diego Gas & Electric.
- Trammell Crow Residential in its plans to convert the Dunn Loring Metro station in Fairfax County from a single-focus transit station into a mixed-use community with 125,000 square feet of ground floor retail and 720 residential homes.
- Hospital Corporation of America in its effort to introduce a new hospital to Loudoun County - Broadlands Regional Medical Center - that would provide a 1+ million-square-foot medical campus with 164-general acute care beds and 400,000 square feet of medical office space.
- Tenants and owners of corporate campuses, including America Online, Capital One Financial Corporation, Belmont Executive Center and Oracle on securing zoning and development approvals on properties throughout Fairfax and Loudoun Counties.
- Developers of the planned communities of Broadlands, Brambleton, Stone Ridge, Arcola, Loudoun Valley Estates and others on securing entitlements to create residential-oriented communities supported by a mix of uses that include retail, office, hotels and community facilities such as roads, schools and libraries.
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