Services > Land Use/Environmental/Natural Resources (“LER”)
Bringing Clarity to the Complex
Land use and environmental laws and regulations provide both opportunities and challenges for your commercial real estate venture. Whether it is a prospective purchase, sale or lease, CGS3 helps you identify, navigate and overcome the myriad environmental regulations at the local, state and federal levels.
Our in-depth experience, laser like-focus on your business goals and willingness to think outside the box in obtaining flexible and defensible land use and development entitlements – across all asset types – instill certainty in an often uncertain process, and ultimately enable you to complete a project on-time and on-budget. In addition to collaborating with our clients in solving day-to-day land use and zoning challenges, CGS3’s LER team offers best-in-class legal services in obtaining entitlements for high-profile developments, master-planned communities, urban in-fill and mixed-use projects and historic redevelopments.
CGS3 helps clients maneuver the maze of land use and environmental regulations in the following contexts:
- Pre-purchase/leasing due diligence;
- California Planning, Zoning and Subdivision Law/obtaining entitlements (including design reviews, permits and subdivision and plat maps) from local jurisdictions and other agencies;
- Rezoning and variances;
- Master and general plan adoptions and amendments;
- Zoning or building code enforcement actions;
- Environmental enforcement actions by agencies regulating water quality, air quality, hazardous substances, and other resources;
- California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) and National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) compliance;
- Impact fees, exactions and other conditions of development approvals;
- Historic landmark designation and preservation;
- Easements/abandonments;
- Condemnation of property rights by public agencies; and
- Defense of administrative and judicial challenges to development approvals.
CGS3 LER lawyers are committed to developing innovative, forward-thinking solutions to the complex legal requirements governing land development and the many regulatory compliance challenges – solutions that ultimately result in getting your project approved on terms that make good business sense and support downstream financing, operations and disposition strategies. Our lawyers succeed by employing a unique blend of legal sophistication and old-fashioned “know-how” as well as strong relationships with governmental officials and regulators – and an understanding that entitlements serve an important underlying business goal.

Buy/Sell
- Letters of intent
- Purchase agreements
- Title review
- Due diligence
- Lease and contract review
Financing
- Acquisition loans
- Development loans
- Construction loans
- Permanent and semi-permanent loans
- Participating and convertible loans
- Revolving credit facilities
- Mezzanine loans
Construction/Development
- Design professional agreements
- Construction agreements
- Design-build agreements
- Public Private Partnership (PPP) agreements
- Owner participation agreements
- Subcontracts
- Payment/performance bonds
- CC&Rs and REAs
Management
- Property management agreements
- Listing agreements
- Service provider agreements
- Consulting agreements
Commercial Leasing
- Retail leasing
- Office leasing
- Industrial leasing
- Medical leasing
- Life science/biotech leasing
Distressed Real Estate Workouts
- Loan restructurings
- Loan sales
- Leasing and evictions
- Deed in lieu transactions
- Foreclosure proceedings
- Guaranty enforcement actions
- Receivership and bankruptcy
- Short sales, receivership sales and REO sales
Entity Formation and Tax
- LLCs and partnership formations
- Strategic tax and business law counseling
- Entity and tax disputes
- Federal, state and local tax controversies
- Nonprofit corporations
- Fiduciary duties
- Workouts and debt discharge
- Expert witness services
Disputes and Litigation
- Business and real estate negotiations
- Ownership interests
- Dissolution of business entities
- Breaches of contract and business torts
- Workouts and foreclosure of distressed property
- Landlord/tenant lease disputes
- Construction disputes
- Easements and other real property interests
- Land use decisions by public entities
- Employment agreements and issues
- Insurance claims
- Holders of personal guarantees
- Unlawful Detainers
Land Use/Environmental/Natural Resources (“LER”)
- Pre-purchase/leasing due diligence
- California Planning, Zoning and Subdivision Law/obtaining entitlements from local jurisdictions and other agencies
- Rezoning and variances
- Master and general plan adoptions and amendments
- Zoning or building code enforcement actions
- Environmental enforcement actions by agencies regulating water quality, air quality, hazardous substances, and other resources
- California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) and National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) compliance
- Impact fees, exactions and other conditions of development approvals
- Historic landmark designation and preservation
- Easements/abandonments
- Condemnation of property rights by public agencies
- Defense of administrative and judicial challenges to development approvals