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Real Estate and Land Use

For more than a half century, Hoge Fenton has focused on counseling clients in the real estate industry and we continue to represent large landowners, commercial and residential developers, landlords, financial institutions, mortgage bankers, title and escrow companies, real estate brokers and other real estate professionals.

Our Approach

We believe strongly that:

• We must add to our clients' bottom lines
• We must understand the business of real estate so deeply that our clients can depend upon our judgment calls
• We must use our experience and skills to be masters at deal-making, not deal breaking
• Speed, efficiency and timing can be everything
• The earlier we can get involved in a transaction, land use proceeding, or controversy, the greater the value we can create for our client.

Representative Matters:

Real Estate and Land Use:

• Representation of landowners and developers in the 10-year process of completing the South Livermore Valley Area Specific Plan, including the CEQA work underlying that plan, and 5 years of implementation
• Development of Tehama Country Club (a golf course and 34 homes) in Monterey County, including the successful defense of a CEQA lawsuit
• Purchase of two properties and the entitlement of a power plant on each property, including the successful defense of CEQA lawsuits on both projects
• Infill development in over one dozen different cities in the Bay Area, ranging through the counties of San Mateo, Santa Clara, Alameda, Contra Costa, San Joaquin, Santa Cruz, and Monterey
• Sale Of:
  • 53-acre 18-hole golf course in San Jose
  • 60 acres in Union City
  • 115-acre golf course in San Jose
  • 8-acre cheese manufacturing facility in San Jose
  • 9-acre rose nursery to the San Leandro Redevelopment Agency, including mitigation of miscellaneous environmental and demolition issues
  • last major prune orchard in Santa Clara County (100 acres)
  • 50-acre parcel in Livermore, including obtaining entitlements for 155 houses
  • $18,000,000 freeway frontage property in Livermore to a mixed use developer; the sale was not contingent on entitlements and loans and closed in 35 days
• Purchase of the former Carnation plant in Merced County, including remediation of extensive environmental problems
• Representation of landowners and developers in the 8-year process of completing the Vineyard Avenue Corridor Specific Plan in Pleasanton, including the CEQA work underlying that plan, and 4 years of implementation
• Agreement among 6 major developers to share the cost of offsite infrastructure for 307 houses on 700 acres in South Livermore
• Three separate affordable housing projects, including the entitlement work and subsequent successful defense of CEQA lawsuits on each project
• Complex financing transaction allowing the development of an affordable housing complex in Dublin in 2003
• Sale of a 4,500 acre ranch in Santa Clara and San Benito counties for purposes of creating conservation easements
• Sale of a right to obtain an 840-acre conservation easement to home builder for endangered species mitigation and negotiation of easement with the Nature Conservancy
• Representation of the master developer in obtaining a public infrastructure bond for a 3,000-unit mixed use project in Lincoln, CA
• Development of a senior assisted living facility in Carmel through entitlement and successful defense of a CEQA lawsuit based on historical resource issues
• Development of a 35-lot subdivision in San Juan Bautista through entitlement and successful defense of a CEQA lawsuit
• All sales and purchases and sales in the U.S. for a Fortune 500 company
• Acquisition of entitlements for a hotel in Cupertino
• Subdivision of vineyard development in Livermore as a court-appointed referee

Commercial Leasing:

• Ground lease of 43 acres of State-owned land in Santa Clara and ground subleasing of portions of the property for apartment and light industrial development; the project included obtaining passage of two bills by the California Legislature
• All leases in the continental United States for the American subsidiary of the French Alcatel company
• Lease of major truck terminal facilities, including preparation of the RFP, purchase agreement, lease, and construction documents
• Representation of tenant in the lease of a 120,000 square foot corporate headquarters; the tenant received part ownership in the building as partial consideration for entering into the lease
• Leases, subleases, and lease buyouts throughout the U.S. for a Fortune 500 corporation
• Lease of a 90,000 square foot headquarters building in San Jose
• Lease of two buildings in Cupertino, totaling approximately 200,000 square feet
• Leases throughout the Bay Area for a florist franchise
• Ground lease and purchase agreement for hotel in Fremont

Litigation:

• Successful defense of a CEQA lawsuit against challenging approvals for the Tehama Country Club (golf course and 34 houses), from trial through the appeals
• Successful defense of CEQA lawsuits against power plants on two properties
• Successful defense of CEQA lawsuits against three separate affordable housing projects
• Representation of landowners and businesses in a broad array of cases involving such issues as toxic gases, leaking underground gasoline storage tanks, Superfund cleanups, sales and leases of contaminated property, NPDES discharge violations, soil and groundwater contamination, hazardous waste management facilities permits, PCB transformer fires, environmental impact statements, asbestos in buildings, underground injection well violations, wetlands development, TSCA compliance, pesticides registration and reporting under SARA, Title III.
• Successful defense of a CEQA lawsuit challenging the siting of school buildings
• Successful defense of a lawsuit challenging restrictions on a major quarry imposed by Santa Clara County
• Representation of a major real estate brokerage firm in the resolution of several lawsuits alleging the nondisclosure of mold contamination in homes
• Successful defense of a CEQA lawsuit challenging the development plans of a major hospital
• Representation of ten wineries in the successful resolution of federal court lawsuits alleging disability access violations
• Successful defense of a CEQA lawsuit based on historical preservation claims challenging the approval of a senior assisted-living facility in Carmel
• Successful defense of a CEQA lawsuit challenging a 35-lot subdivision in San Juan Bautista
• Representation of homebuilder in lawsuit against school districts in Contra Costa County, alleging miscalculation of school fees

Areas of Practice

Real Estate

Land Use

Litigation

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