Representative Experience

• Represented a developer in a 35-acre shopping center redevelopment project in Pomona, California.  Negotiated redevelopment agreements, subdivision and entitlement approvals, drafted land use restriction and operating documents, and negotiated and documented pad sales, ground leases and spaces leases.
• Represented the developer of luxury 64-lot, 100-acre residential subdivision in Beverly Hills. Counseled on land use planning, subdivision approvals, entitlements, California Department of Real Estate subdivision sales approvals and documentation, negotiation of major, multiple-lot sale transactions, private street approval and off-site disputes with third parties.
• Represent Community Dynamics, a developer of multifamily affordable and market rate housing projects throughout Southern California.  Handling negotiations with the City of Palm Desert on agreements and entitlements for a multiphase project on city-owned land.
• Represented Costco Wholesale Corporation in the preparation of environmental impact reports, related entitlements, zone changes, conditional use permits, general plan amendments, specific plans, and defending against litigation challenging the environmental reviews for a number of facilities. The facilities have included exurban, suburban and urban in-fill projects, some of which were financed entirely by private funds and some of which were financed by public-private partnerships. Our work has also included Costco’s massive automated depot facilities, as well as over 125 stores and a variety of ancillary facilities.
• Represented Monrovia Nursery Company in the entitlement and master planning of a 1,250- dwelling unit, new urbanist community on one of the largest remaining undeveloped parcels in the San Gabriel Valley. We are providing tactical expertise in successfully defeating the referendum challenge.
• Representing a developer in the entitlement process, general and specific plans, CEQA regulations and zoning for a 336-acre, mixed-use development in Chino Hills, California.
• Counseled Sunrise Desert Partners and Indian Ridge Land LLC on the development of the large master-planned community, Indian Ridge Country Club in Palm Desert, California.
• Represented PW LLC in a one million-square-foot, mixed-use/office/hotel project in Burbank, California.
• Represented El Segundo Media Center in 1.8 million-square-foot, technology office campus.
• Ongoing representation of a syndicator of apartment projects in a series of equity raises for acquisitions of apartment projects in Southern California totaling approximately $350 million.
• Represented real estate developer in negotiating and documenting construction and permanent real estate loan of $13 million for an upscale apartment complex in Panorama City, California.
• Represented a client in the offering of interests in connection with the purchase of land and construction and franchising of a hotel. Advised the client on entity structure and securities laws issues and drafting the underlying entity and disclosure documents.
• Advised a publicly-held operator of high-end health and fitness clubs in selling selected clubs that operated primarily in the East to one of the operator’s shareholders for $80 million. As part of the sale, we also represented the company in refinancing $50 million of real estate-secured debt.
• Represented Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation in connection with the 600,000-square-foot expansion of the Fox Studios property in Century City, California.
• Obtained entitlements for RAND Corporation for the redevelopment of its property located in Santa Monica, California, with a 300,000-square-foot office project.
• Obtained entitlements on behalf of Legacy Partners for an approximate 570-unit apartment project in Woodland Hills, California, and an approximate 190-unit apartment project in the Westwood area of Los Angeles.
• Represented the developer of the master-planned redevelopment of the former Ambassador College site in Pasadena, California, consisting of almost 2,000 dwelling units.
• Represented Tolkin Group in the development of Metlox Center, a mixed-use public-private project in Manhattan Beach, California. This project, and numerous other projects in the City of Malibu and elsewhere in the coastal zone, have required Coastal Act expertise.
• On behalf of Robinson’s-May, successfully obtained a reversal of a proposed action by the Los Angeles Unified School District to convert the department store chain's corporate headquarters into a school site.
• Obtained approval from the City of Los Angeles, in our representation of the Frederick R. Weisman Art Foundation, for the continued operation of an art museum in a single-family estate in Holmby Hills, California. This matter involved extensive negotiations with neighboring property owners and coordination with the neighborhood council in devising a set of operating conditions.
• Advised and represented Costco Wholesale Corporation in preparation of EIRs for its projects in La Quinta and National City, CA.  Obtained approval by the respective city councils and projects were not legally challenged. This favorable outcome saved our client millions of dollars by its avoidance of potential traffic, wetlands, sensitive species, replacement of natural resources mitigation and other requirements.
• Counseled developer of mixed-use, 336-acre project in Chino Hills, CA in preparation of EIR, which was approved by the city council and not legally challenged.  Helped the client avoid additional, costly mitigation measures or reduced density project alternatives.  In addition, we persuaded the California Dept. Fish & Game (Streambed Alteration Agreement), the Regional Water Quality Control Board, Santa Ana Division (Section 401 Water Quality requirements) and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (Section 404 Permit) to issue the required permits.  This saved the client many thousands of dollars in mitigation and project delay expenses.
• Represented the developers of the Montage Hotel site, a public-private partnership between the developer and the City of Beverly Hills, in preparation of the EIR. We addressed complex urban in-fill issues including traffic, air quality and historic resources and the EIR successfully withstood legal attack by project opponents at the trial court and appellate levels.
• Served as special CEQA counsel to the City Attorney of Huntington Beach and the City on protecting the 1,600-acre Bolsa Chica Wetlands from a substantial residential development.
• Served as special CEQA counsel to the City Attorney of the City of Industry and the City on its proposal to construct a massive waste materials transfer facility using long-haul rail to remote disposal locations.
• Advised private developer of an approximately 600,000-square-foot industrial warehouse and distribution facility on how to address greenhouse gas emissions individually and cumulatively in the project.
• Represented the developer of a mixed-use development located on former industrial land against challenges that the development and its uses would pose a health risk to the community. Successfully worked with community groups and the local authorities to remove opposition to the project on these grounds.
• Achieved client goals in our representation of the developer of a golf course community opposed to a large-scale biosolid composting facility proposed by Waste Management. Our opposition efforts on local, regional and statewide fronts led Waste Management to abandon the project.
• Represented a developer in the acquisition, redevelopment and disposition of Bella Terra Shopping Center, an approximately one million-square-feet project which was formerly known as the Huntington Beach Mall.
• Represented the developer of former Boeing Challenger aerospace plant in Downey, California, which was proposed for multi-use retail, office, industrial and warehouse use.
• In an eminent domain case brought by the San Diego Metropolitan Transit Board to take land used by our client’s big-box retail operation, we used the leverage of a challenge to the agency’s right to take the property to obtain a settlement reducing to insignificance the amount of our client’s land being taken. We also imposed work rules on the agency that eliminated any adverse impact of the agency’s construction work on our client’s operations.
• Represented a client in an eminent domain case brought by a pipeline utility. We used the leverage of a challenge to the utility’s right to take our client’s property to obtain a settlement imposing work rules that eliminated any adverse impact of the utility’s construction work on our client’s operations.
• Obtained dismissal in a Caltrans eminent domain case brought by the department and involving it taking a pylon sign to enlarge a freeway off ramp and a portion of the sign owned by our client. We worked with other aligned property owners and prevailed because of Caltrans’ failure to comply with statutory notice requirements.
• Represented a real estate developer in obtaining a settlement in excess of $15 million on the eve of trial in a dispute with his partner and a major luxury resort operator over the ownership and redevelopment of the former Hotel Twin Dolphin in Cabo San Lucas, Mexico.
• In a civil rights case against the Redevelopment Agency of the City of Carson and the city’s former mayor, we obtained a jury verdict of over a million dollars. The jury found that the agency rejected our client’s redevelopment project because he refused to pay a bribe.
• In ground lease interpretation litigation against the City of Redondo Beach, we obtained a settlement that resulted in resolution of nearly all disputed issues in favor of our client, the operator of a large marina in Redondo Beach Harbor.
• In a series of lawsuits by citizens groups opposing development of a big-box retail store in the City of La Habra, we obtained a settlement of the first round of litigation and then a judgment, affirmed on appeal, in our client’s favor, on the second round of litigation, after one of the settling objectors reneged on the first settlement.
• During litigation controlled and financed by a neighboring property owner, we successfully defended in the trial court, and in the court of appeal, the approval by the City of El Segundo of a million square-foot, mixed-use development.
• Successfully defended in the Superior Court and on appeal, against a challenge, on CEQA and zoning grounds, to the approval of a variance by the City of Los Angeles that allowed our client’s commercial development in a residential neighborhood.
• Successfully defended in the Superior Court and on appeal against a challenge, on CEQA and zoning grounds, to the approval by the California Coastal Commission of a coastal development permit for our client’s mixed-use development.
• Provided litigation counseling and assistance to a developer with regard to CEQA and land use challenges to approval of, and with regard to, eminent domain issues that arose in property acquisition for a major mixed-use redevelopment project at Hollywood and Vine.  The challenges to the project approval and to the use of eminent domain were all either defeated or settled.
• In a dispute with the City of Indio, with regard to a water project’s fees that would have severely impacted our clients’ undeveloped land, we filed judicial challenges to the project that resulted in a settlement granting significant development rights to our clients.
• In an action brought by the City of Culver City seeking to terminate oil and gas leases burdening a city park, we successfully resisted the oil company’s motion for summary judgment on grounds that induced the oil company to settle on a basis favorable to the city.
• In a dispute between neighbors concerning the use of a residential property for commercial filming, we used litigation and the threat of litigation to effectively end the commercial use of our client’s neighbor’s property.
• Represented San Vicente-Montana Association in a challenge to the environmental review of an office and retail development in West Los Angeles. The litigation resulted in an unpublished U.S. Court of Appeals decision in our client’s favor.
• Represented petitioners in a case against the City of Los Angeles in a challenge to the environmental review of the master plan for the redevelopment of the J. Paul Getty Museum in Pacific Palisades. After entry of a Superior Court judgment in our client’s favor, the litigation was settled.
• Worked with a municipal client to reclaim areas used for private oil production and develop those areas into parkland using a combination of state, federal, local and private funding. Our work included successful litigation against the oil production operator and mineral rights owner.
• Successfully prosecuted a federal court action under the Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act challenging project denial on behalf of a private high school.  In settlement of the case, the city authorized single-family residential development of the original proposed school site.  We handled the processing of the approvals for the residential development as well as the authorizations needed to relocate the high school to the Ambassador College campus in Pasadena.

For more information as to the services we provide to the Real Estate Industry, please visit our Real Estate Law page and/or contact Bob Baradaran.