Green Business

Representative Projects and Transactions

Brownfields/Environmental

• Assist clients in obtaining Massachusetts Brownfields tax credits for redevelopment projects involving contaminated sites after regulatory closure has been achieved for those sites.
• Ongoing environmental representation of National Development Associates in connection with its successful acquisition, redevelopment, leasing, and financing of a significant portion of the Woburn, Massachusetts Industri-Plex Superfund site.
• Environmental counsel to the owner of the New England Patriots in connection with the construction of Gillette Stadium and Patriot Place, a 1.3 million square foot mixed use development adjacent to Gillette Stadium in Foxboro, Massachusetts including land reuse, river and habitat restoration, recycled water use and transportation demand management initiatives.
• Represent a golf course owner/developer in Florida in negotiating a water re-use agreement with county water authorities to use millions of gallons of so-called “gray water” for irrigation purposes.

Building Commissioning and Retro-commissioning

• General counsel to H20 Applied Technologies (an affiliate of The Beacon Companies), provider of energy and utility conservation installations and services to hospitals, office buildings and other significant energy users, in connection with a $50M secured credit facility and $5M convertible debt financing provided by Silver Point Finance, LLC.
• Represent the Council for Energy Friendly Affordable Housing, an association of affordable housing owners which works to retrofit properties to become more energy efficient and sustainable.

Conservation Restrictions

• Represented the Nature Conservancy in its acquisition of 161,000 acres in the heart of the Adirondacks for the "forever wild" Adirondack State Park and negotiated an agreement with a paper mill to provide pulp to the mill.
• Represent The Trustees of Reservations in connection with the preparation, negotiation, and enforcement of conservation restrictions in communities throughout Massachusetts, the coordination of land acquisitions, and the development and refinement of policies related to land conservation and management.
• Established a conservation easement over land in Jaffrey, NY, with the Monadnock Conservancy responsible for its implementation.
• Represent Equity Trust in the preservation of community supported agriculture and family farms.

Green Building Compliance (LEED)

• Represent Terra Resorts Group, a leader in the development of eco-friendly, LEED-certified resorts, in management agreements. 
• Represented National Grid in a build to suit lease for LEED Platinum certified building.
• Represented Boston Properties, as landlord, in completing a 400,000 square foot “green” office lease at Atlantic Wharf (formerly Russia Wharf), Boston in a proposed LEED Gold certified development, which is now under construction.

Greenhouse Gas Regulatory Compliance

• Represented New England Development in a Project in Springfield, MA resulting in the state’s first major retail project to go through the MEPA process with a “Greenhouse Gas component”. This project included developing the modeling and determining the elements of both stationary and mobile sources of Greenhouse Gas emitters.
• Represented The Kraft Group in obtaining approval of a 1.5 million square foot life-sciences office space through the MEPA office under the Greenhouse Gas Policy. Assisted client in developing a commitment to the Commonwealth for an 18% reduction in Greenhouse Gas emissions accomplished through a series of initiatives such as using solar energy, building orientation, HVAC systems, green housekeeping, recycling, water reuse systems and sustainable design elements.
• Working with major retailers to design and implement Greenhouse Gas policies aimed at maximizing their Greenhouse Gas Emissions reductions through energy conservation.
• Represent NRG Energy in permitting, litigation and strategic planning matters affecting its electric power plant in Somerset, Massachusetts.
• Represent Bank of America in loans to recycling and waste management companies involving verified emissions reductions.

Green Tech Ventures

• Represented GoLoco, a ride sharing company, in its early-stage seed financing.
• Represent real estate leasing and management companies in connection with the protection of brands for environmentally-friendly tenant build-out services.
• General counsel to TransFair USA (which certifies that coffee, tea, cocoa, and similar products meet certain fair trade criteria that include the producers' use of environmentally-friendly sustainable agricultural practices) in licensing, loans, collaboration agreements and intellectual property matters.
• Structure insurance programs to take advantage of new products for “green” construction and development practices, including property insurance, liability insurance, OCIP coverage, CCIP coverage, and related lines.

Power Purchase Agreements

• Counseling a national multifamily developer on power purchase arrangements with a proposed adjoining wind turbine facility and related permitting and regulatory matters.
• Negotiating an agreement for the installation, interconnection and operation of a solar (photovoltaic) electric generation facility for a major furniture retailer.

Renewable Energy and Alternative Energy Generation

• Negotiating an agreement for the installation, interconnection and operation of a fuel cell facility for a trophy Manhattan office tower.
• Representation of the General Theological Seminary on the approval process and contracts with the engineering and construction firms retained by the Seminary to implement a geothermal-based heating and cooling system on its campus, which is comprised of 14 buildings, aggregating over 275,000 square feet on a city block in the Chelsea area of Manhattan.
• Represented the developer of a proposed wind turbine farm in Nantucket Sound in the successful defense of two lawsuits challenging the developer’s right to proceed.

Smart Growth and Transit Oriented Development

• Represent the developers of Seaport Square, a proposed 6.5 million square foot mixed use development in the South Boston Seaport, which is exploring such measures as on-site co-generation and a major on-site car sharing hub as part of its goal to become the largest development in the United States to attain LEED-ND Silver status.
• Represent Swedish furniture retailer IKEA, in the permitting and development of its sustainably designed 340,000 s.f. store in Somerville, MA.
• Counseled Massachusetts Regional Transit Authorities and private developers in connection with the development of intermodal facilities financed through public/private partnerships. In Lawrence, Massachusetts, the Regional Transit Authority developed a garage facility that serves both commuter rail and an adjacent condominium through a mix of state and federal funding, leveraging privately owned land.
• Counsel New Boston Fund and its affiliate, the Urban Strategy America Fund, in the redevelopment of a 42-acre Brownfields site, known as “Olmsted Green,” the first project in Boston to achieve designation under the State’s Smart Growth Legislation (Chapter 40R), including permitting and regulatory advice with respect to novel environmental issues.

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