Nixon Peabody adds real estate team focused on land use, permitting, and zoning

Boston, MA Nixon Peabody LLP  has added a team of real estate attorneys focused on land use, permitting, and zoning — partner Jennifer Schultz, senior counsel Adam Weisenberg, and counsel Jordan Smith. 

Government relations and the development of policies related to land use and zoning represent additional areas where Nixon Peabody’s platform will facilitate the team’s work across practice areas and generate opportunities for clients to expand their businesses.

Schultz will lead Nixon Peabody’s permitting & land use team. Schultz focuses her permitting and land use practice on complex, large-scale developments in and around greater Boston, Worcester, and Springfield, as well as across southern New Hampshire and Rhode Island. She represents traditional real estate developers as well as family offices, real estate investment trusts, real estate investment managers, universities/colleges, hospitals, hotel owners and managers, and land-centric nonprofits. 

Schultz’s practice also includes a substantial focus on development in the life sciences and renewable energy spaces, having permitted more than a dozen significant life science developments in and around the area in recent years. She is currently working with multiple development clients in the burgeoning climate tech real estate asset class.

Weisenberg has more than 40 years of experience in real estate law, covering all asset types. His practice includes commercial real estate development, finance, and investment across the United States, involving a wide range of client work, including zoning, land use, permitting, ground leases, development and management agreements, common area schemes, joint ventures and partnerships, acquisitions, sales and exchanges, construction, permanent and mezzanine financing, zoning, entity structuring and formation transactions, fund formation, REITs, and residential and commercial condominiums, among other areas.

Smith practices in the areas of land use and complex mixed-use development, representing property owners, developers, REITs, investors, universities, and other clients in the permitting of laboratory research facilities, office buildings, multifamily projects, hotels, and corporate and educational campuses in and around Massachusetts. He regularly conducts large-scale diligence of all permitting items, including local, state, and federal approvals, in the context of advising on investments in development projects, and also advises on and negotiates land-use agreements, including abutter and reciprocal easement agreements.

“Jenn, Adam, and Jordan reinforce our strong group in Boston and across the firm,” said Christopher Froeb, partner and leader of Nixon Peabody’s Affordable Housing & Real Estate practice. “Outside of real estate, they have clear synergies across the firm’s tax credit, regulatory, life sciences, and energy practices, and we look forward to their collaboration with clients and colleagues in those areas. Jenn, Adam, and Jordan provide a full array of development and land use capabilities to help bring a project from concept through execution. We’re excited to have them join and to add to our client offerings.”

“Legislation and politics are central to the unique zoning codes and permitting rules of our state’s municipalities, areas in which this team brings extensive experience,” said James Vallee, managing partner of Nixon Peabody’s Boston office and leader of the firm’s Government Relations & Public Policy practice. “Likewise, our firm has deep background in the policy areas that will benefit clients of Jenn, Adam, and Jordan.”

Schultz earned her JD from Harvard Law School and her BA, magna cum laude, from Middlebury College. Weisenberg earned his JD from Harvard Law School and his BA, magna cum laude, from Yale University. Smith earned his JD, cum laude, from Boston College Law School, his MA from Cornell University, and his BA from Wesleyan University.