David Linhart
Director
Boston
dlinhart@goulstonstorrs.com+1 617 574 4049David Linhart
Director, Boston
dlinhart@goulstonstorrs.com+1 617 574 4049Related Expertise
David Linhart counsels developers and institutional clients to achieve project approvals in a complex, shifting regulatory environment.
David’s work involves site control matters, permitting strategies, confidentiality agreements, and coordination with project consultants, governmental authorities, lenders and investors, and utility companies. He is valued for providing plain-language advice that is actionable by clients as they make important business decisions. In addition to his work with clients, David contributes to Law360’s Expert Analysis section on land use matters.
Drawing from a Government Relations Background
Thanks to his continuing involvement with key Boston projects and his time as an appointed Commissioner with the Massachusetts Commission on Unlocking Housing Production, David is a familiar face around Boston's and Massachusetts' government offices. Additionally, he initiated a statewide supportive housing inventory examining resident services funding with the Office of the Lieutenant Governor as part of the Massachusetts Interagency Council on Housing and Homelessness, and he completed fellowships with the Leadership Council on Legal Diversity and the Rappaport Center for Law and Public Policy. All of his hands-on experience benefits clients as he works with them to craft customized strategies for the complicated approval processes.
A Champion for Building Equity
David co-founded the firm’s Building Equity™ initiative, seeking to help emerging developers scale up by forming connections with established developers, capital sources, professional service firms and development opportunities. Building Equity™ is aligned with complimentary efforts by organizations such as The Builder Coalition, Urban Land Institute, and Opportunity Communities.
Related Representative Matters
A major hospital in all phases of permitting to modernize its 10-acre multi-building campus, in close coordination with the Boston Planning & Redevelopment Agency and related municipal regulatory agencies, and the Massachusetts Historical Commission regarding effects on historic properties.
A real estate developer to reposition a one million square-foot Class A office tower in Boston’s Financial District, involving coordination with an adjacent hotel regarding cross-easements and other title matters.
The master developer of a multi-phase, mixed-use project with half a million square feet of life science uses, together with retail, residential and civic space components and substantial public realm improvements. Project approvals were coordinated with concurrent neighborhood planning and rezoning efforts by the Boston Planning & Redevelopment Agency.
Representation of a real estate developer to convert a historic mill building into 100,000 square feet of life science uses, involving amended zoning for Watertown in addition to project approvals.
The master developer of Boston’s Pier 4 in all phases of permitting the site for a mixed-use project with water-related public amenities, in close coordination with the Boston Planning & Redevelopment Agency and related municipal regulatory agencies, and the State Executive Office of Energy and Environmental Affairs regarding the Municipal Harbor Plan and Chapter 91 and MEPA issues.
A real estate developer in connection with obtaining developer designation from the Boston Housing Authority and pursuing land use approvals for the redevelopment of a 1,100-unit public housing complex into replacement income-restricted housing, with additional elderly and market rate components. The plans also call for new parks, civic and retail space, and streetscape improvements.
A real estate developer in connection with the development of the Hub on Causeway in Boston. Representation includes all matters related to the formation of a joint venture and the development, leasing and financing of the project, which is a multi-phase, mixed-use project of over 1.5 million square feet of retail, office, hotel and residential space located directly adjacent to the TD Garden/North Station complex
The private landowner in Massachusetts, in the permitting of a 1,175-unit community in Plymouth, including at least 390 acres of conservation restriction protected forested open space.
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Accolades
- Lawdragon 500 X: The Next Generation Lawdragon List, 2023-2024
- Best Lawyers in America® Ones to Watch (2021-2025): Land Use and Zoning Law, Real Estate
Affiliations
- Commissioner, Commonwealth of Massachusetts, Commission on Unlocking Housing Production
- Citizens’ Housing And Planning Association, Policy Leadership Council
- Opportunity Communities, Independent Board Member
Admissions
- Massachusetts
Education
Cornell University ( B.S. , 1999 )
Cornell University ( M. Eng. in Bioengineering , 2004 )
Boston University School of Law ( J.D. , 2012 )