Environmental

Representative Matters

Environmental/ISRA Compliance, Due Diligence & Environmental Risk Allocation

• As environmental and land use counsel to the owners of a substantial portfolio of commercial and industrial properties in New Jersey and surrounding areas, we are advising on environmental compliance, leasing and transactional issues involving regulated materials, and environmental litigation affecting property operations and redevelopment.
• Representing a multinational climate-control manufacturer in long-running regulatory proceedings with the NJDEP, including negotiating settlements, overseeing ISRA compliance, and pursuing insurance coverage for environmental liabilities.
• Representing the country’s largest ready-mix concrete supplier in environmental and ISRA compliance matters related to real estate and stock acquisitions in New Jersey, including oversight of remediation obligations for acquired properties.  
• Advising Village Super Market, Inc. on environmental compliance, permitting, due diligence, and redevelopment for supermarket and warehouse facilities across multiple states, including projects in underserved urban areas.
• Serving as New Jersey environmental counsel to a multinational specialty coatings manufacturer in connection with ISRA compliance, remediation liability allocation, operating permits, and the acquisition and disposition of environmentally complex properties.  
• Serving as environmental counsel to ShelterLogic Group in facility compliance, real estate matters, and the environmental decommissioning and remediation of a major New Jersey manufacturing operation.
• Representing a leader in innovative water solutions in ISRA compliance at a former manufacturing facility, including vapor intrusion and remediation program issues.  
• Represented a corporation in the sale of a former chemical manufacturing facility burdened by zoning restrictions and environmental contamination, negotiating seller financing, price adjustments, and post-closing remediation agreements to facilitate a $10 million transaction after multiple prior failed sales.
• Represented a manufacturing client in the sale of an industrial property involving ISRA-triggered environmental liabilities, negotiating an agreement shifting remediation obligations to the buyer, requiring environmental insurance, post-closing access rights, recorded institutional controls, and collateral securing ongoing obligations.
• Guided a purchaser through the acquisition and adaptive reuse of a Newark commercial property into an art-storage warehouse, overseeing due diligence, land use approvals, environmental compliance, and refinancing.
• Represented a New Jersey state entity in the $15.5 million acquisition of a former charter school property, negotiating purchase terms with a foreclosing lender’s affiliate, addressing title, survey, and environmental issues, and advising on alternative acquisition strategies through foreclosure proceedings.
• Represented a New Jersey-based purchaser in the acquisition of Virginia commercial property as replacement property in a complex Section 1031 exchange, negotiating purchase terms, reviewing a long-term Valvoline lease, addressing environmental compliance issues, and resolving closing conditions to complete the exchange.
• Represented the seller of a former trucking terminal sold for redevelopment into a self-storage facility, allocating liability for underground storage tank removal, securing environmental insurance, coordinating redevelopment approvals, and mitigating legacy environmental risk.
• Represented the seller of an analytical laboratory services company in a $15.3 million sale, including environmental compliance diligence and negotiation of a post-closing real estate lease.  
• Provided real estate and land use support in the firm’s successful representation of Des Champs Laboratories, in which the New Jersey Appellate Division struck down an unauthorized NJDEP regulation that would have significantly expanded cleanup obligations under the ISRA.  
• Represented the sellers in structuring a $98 million option-based sale of a multi-property industrial portfolio, addressing extensive title and environmental issues, allocation of remediation obligations, negotiation of environmental insurance, and recording of post-closing obligations binding future owners and lenders.
• Represented a global medical equipment manufacturer in environmental permitting, ISRA compliance, and international corporate reorganizations, including resolution of Clean Water Act disputes resulting in $20–$50 million in avoided compliance costs.
• Counseled a wholly owned affiliate of a publicly traded REIT on the $32 million sale of vacant land in Wall Township. Serving as lead counsel, the firm’s representation included negotiating the sale agreement, resolving title and environmental issues, addressing outstanding and expiring development approvals, managing regulatory delays, and successfully closing the transaction.

Transactions Involving Brownfields & Contaminated Sites

• Advising a California-based national logistics and e-commerce real estate developer on environmental, land use, real estate, and insurance matters related to large-scale redevelopment projects in New Jersey, including the conversion of a former fossil-fuel power generation facility into a major distribution and logistics campus involving complex remediation, redevelopment, financing, and regulatory issues.
• Represented an affiliate of a multi-generational family-owned real estate firm in the development and $83 million sale of two Class A multifamily buildings in Rahway, securing land use approvals, negotiating redevelopment and financial agreements, advising on environmental remediation, and managing complex regulatory, title, and permitting issues through closing.
• Represented a national real estate company on environmental aspects of property acquisition and redevelopment, including negotiations with redevelopment agencies, for a major, multi-parcel mixed-use redevelopment project in Jersey City involving complex remediation and land use considerations.
• Represented a leading real estate industry group in the development of its new headquarters, negotiating a redevelopment agreement with a local improvement authority and advising on land use approvals, tax incentives, environmental remediation, construction contracts, and site acquisition.
• Represented the seller of a 132,000 square foot multi-tenant industrial property for $16 million, structuring environmental remediation responsibilities and coordinating with NJDEP to allocate long-term monitoring obligations.
• Advised a real estate holding company on an $8 million industrial land acquisition supported by $22 million in mortgage financing, addressing environmental remediation trusts, riparian rights, title issues, and complex loan documentation.
• Served as environmental counsel on the remediation and redevelopment of the former General Motors assembly plant in Linden, including regulatory strategy, brownfield remediation, and state incentive negotiations. Secured a multi-million-dollar redevelopment grant and obtained full reimbursement approval from state authorities as the project generated significant tax revenue through national retail tenancy.
• Represented Terreno Realty Corporation in the $29.8 million negotiated sale of an industrial property in Newark to a governmental agency in lieu of condemnation, addressing phased takings, tenant and environmental access issues, and valuation protections tied to potential future acquisitions.
• Represented Federal Business Centers, Inc. in multiple complex acquisitions, dispositions, and financing transactions involving large-scale industrial and commercial properties throughout New Jersey, with aggregate transaction values exceeding $140 million. The firm’s counsel has included a $49.75 million acquisition of a 12-building commercial complex structured as replacement property in a Section 1031 exchange; sales of contaminated and vacant industrial land involving ongoing remediation, post-closing access, and strict exchange timing requirements; and fixed-rate and construction financing transactions for major industrial facilities negotiated during volatile credit-market conditions. Additional work involved lease terminations, tenant estoppels and SNDAs, environmental risk allocation, demolition planning for redevelopment, resolution of pad-site and cell-tower lease issues, and coordination of lender, environmental, and insurance stakeholders.  

Federal Superfund (CERCLA) & New Jersey Spill Act

• Representing two multinational manufacturers in connection with federal Superfund sites in western New Jersey, advising on remediation strategy, redevelopment planning, negotiations with U.S. DOJ and U.S. EPA, cost-recovery litigation, institutional controls, and emerging contaminants.
• Representing a multinational manufacturing and technology company in a multi-party CERCLA cost-recovery and contribution action involving alleged contamination of a Northern New Jersey waterbody and surrounding wetlands.
• Representing a multinational environmental services company in a complex NJDEP matter arising from a decades-old fuel oil discharge and securing site access for remediation.
• Represented the New Jersey Schools Development Authority in long-running condemnation and environmental remediation litigation, securing recovery of more than $4 million in escrowed funds to reimburse cleanup costs incurred by the client.

Emerging Environmental Contaminants

• Serving as New Jersey counsel to a multinational chemical manufacturer in more than two dozen federal and New Jersey state court actions alleging air and groundwater contamination caused by the discharge of PFAS substances. The cases include claims of alleged biomonitoring, personal injury, natural resource damage and contamination of a local water supply.
• Representing Avery Dennison in addressing legacy environmental liabilities at a New Jersey manufacturing site, including multi-property groundwater contamination, allocation among potentially responsible parties, and emerging contaminants.
• Advising a national media and information company on ISRA compliance and PFAS-related contamination issues at multiple New Jersey facilities, including pursuing claims against former owners and managing environmental issues in property dispositions.

Corporate Transactions

• Counseled Amazon on large-scale retail and commercial developments totaling millions of square feet across multiple locations, advising on redevelopment approvals, PILOT agreements, environmental remediation, land use and zoning, construction permitting, and leasing matters. 
• Represented a bank in a statewide sale-leaseback transaction involving 29 office properties, negotiating purchase, lease, substitution rights, rights of first refusal, and post-closing environmental and code-compliance obligations across a complex, multi-asset portfolio.
• Represented the seller of a national HVAC airflow products manufacturer in a $75.5 million sale, coordinating transaction, environmental, and real estate leasing components.
• Represented Veris Residential, Inc. in three transactions involving the sale of three Class A office buildings, a mixed-use retail/commercial building, and a commercial development site in Jersey City. The firm acted as environmental counsel across all transactions, negotiating provisions and facilitating the transfer of permits. We served as real estate counsel on the mixed-use property and as New Jersey local counsel on the remaining assets. The deals were collectively recognized by NAIOP NJ as the 2024 “Mixed-Use/Commercial Deal of the Year.”

Renewable & Clean Energy Projects

• Representing L’Oréal USA in a national real estate and environmental engagement supporting acquisitions, leasing, development, and operation of manufacturing and research facilities, including ISRA compliance, renewable energy and power off-take agreements, sustainability initiatives, and tax assessment matters. The firm’s recent work includes advising L’Oréal on the development and opening of its flagship New Jersey Research & Innovation facility, featuring an onsite solar microgrid, battery storage, EV charging infrastructure, and peak-shaving controls.
• Serving as lead counsel, represented a west-coast based national renewable power company in securing New Jersey’s first waiver permitting solar development in the Pinelands Preservation Area, enabling construction of a landfill-based solar and storage facility following NJBPU, NJDEP, and Pinelands Commission approval.
• Counseled Montclair State University in the evaluation of environmental issues and associated environmental contract provisions related to the university’s development of a new cogeneration facility and the cessation of existing cogeneration operations.

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