Redevelopment and Economic Development
In recent years, McManimon & Scotland, L.L.C. has been engaged as counsel to assist public entities with a variety of redevelopment initiatives. These responsibilities include the designation of areas in need of rehabilitation and the adoption of redevelopment plans. The types of redevelopment projects for which our firm has provided legal assistance include commercial and recreational redevelopment projects as well as market and affordable housing. In connection with these initiatives, McManimon & Scotland, L.L.C. has negotiated developer and tax abatement agreements and provided advise relating to the structure and financing of redevelopment projects including security agreements and financial assistance contracts by public entities.
The statutory and structural complexity of even the most rudimentary redevelopment project demands a wide range of legal expertise. The attorneys at McManimon & Scotland, L.L.C. have acquired that expertise in all of the areas required to turn a redevelopment concept into a redevelopment project. These areas of expertise include:
Planning
Expertise
Every redevelopment project begins with a plan. McManimon & Scotland, L.L.C.
will assist the municipality, the planning board and the municipality's
planning consultant in designating an area in need of redevelopment, formulating
a redevelopment plan, and selecting a redeveloper. A thorough knowledge
of the redevelopment laws, and how those laws are interpreted by New Jersey's
courts, will ensure a solid foundation for your redevelopment project.
Transactional
Expertise
Redevelopment projects often include a series of transactions involving
multiple legal disciplines. Whether it be the sale, purchase or condemnation
of property, the borrowing or lending of money or the negotiation and execution
of a construction contract or redevelopment agreement, a broad transactional
expertise is required to achieve the municipality's goal. Accordingly, the
ability to draw upon a law firm that has transactional expertise in such
areas as contract law, public sector law, land use law, environmental law,
bankruptcy law and corporate, tax and finance law is critical to a successful
redevelopment project. Every redevelopment project is different. The drafting
and negotiation of the transaction documents requires experience and judgement
about what the law will permit, what the public reaction may be, what the
redeveloper is likely to find acceptable and what is achievable in the redevelopment
area.
Financial
Expertise
As part of the redevelopment process, a municipality must focus on the challenges
in the redevelopment area which prevent or deter private investment. Frequently,
those challenges include inferior infrastructure, abandoned buildings which
require demolition, and environmental remediation issues. The municipality
must understand its needs, as well as the requirements of its private partner,
in order to determine what assistance, if any, a municipality should render
to a potential redeveloper. The successful redevelopment project is achieved
when the public subsidy is limited to the amount and type needed to encourage
development but avoid a windfall for the developer. Only a law firm with
both municipal and corporate finance experience can provide the expertise
needed to help a municipality strike this balance.
Tax
Expertise
The ability to address the pros and cons of short and long term tax exemptions
is critical to many redevelopment projects. It is also helpful to understand
the tax impact of every transaction on the redeveloper in order to ensure
a fair deal for both parties. Finally, the ability to identify opportunities
to take advantage of tax exempt interest rates can often make the difference
between a failed redevelopment concept and a successful redevelopment project.
Dispute
Resolution Expertise
Redevelopment projects often represent major changes for a municipality.
Redevelopment may be pursued in order to create additional revenues for
a municipality, spur economic revitalization and or assist local businesses
to expand and improve their facilities. Redevelopment projects often require
relocation of residents and/or businesses and condemnation of private property.
Occasionally that change is not well tolerated.
McManimon & Scotland, L.L.C.'s dispute resolution experts have dealt with challenges to a municipality's designation of a redevelopment area, adoption of a redevelopment plan, negotiation of a redevelopment agreement and condemnation of private property.
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