Associate

Andy Norin is a senior associate in the firm’s Real Estate and Land Use Practice Groups.  Andy concentrates his practice on complex commercial real estate transactions and land development and redevelopment projects.

Land Development.  Andy counsels developers and other clients through the land development approvals process on a diverse array of projects including office, residential, retail, industrial and warehouse facilities and planned developments.  Andy routinely appears before municipal governing bodies, zoning and planning boards and other municipal boards and commissions throughout New Jersey in connection with land development applications and rezonings.  In addition, Andy advises clients on compliance with state land development related statutes and regulations (including wetlands, flood hazard area control, storm water management, waterfront development, threatened and endangered species and affordable housing); and guides clients through the maze of permits and approvals required from counties, regional authorities, and the state of New Jersey, including the Department of Environmental Protection, the Department of Transportation and the Department of Community Affairs. 

            Representative Projects

• Represented a private real estate developer in obtaining municipal subdivision, site plan and conditional use approval for an industrial park including, warehouse space and a motor freight terminal.
  
  
• Represented a Global Fortune 50 company on the approvals for a major expansion of an industrial facility servicing the Northeast United States.
  
  
• Successfully represented a land owner in connection with a controversial 175 acre rural residential subdivision.

Redevelopment.  Andy’s land development practice increasingly focuses on redevelopment projects governed by New Jersey’s Local Redevelopment and Housing Law.  His Redevelopment Law practice includes counseling clients regarding the designation of Areas in Need of Redevelopment, negotiating and drafting Redevelopment Agreements and negotiating and drafting Financial Agreements for the payment in lieu of taxes (“PILOT”) pursuant to the Long Term Tax Exemption Law. 

                Representative Projects

• Recently negotiated a Redevelopment Agreement on behalf of a Redeveloper for an urban redevelopment project consisting of 650 residential units, 35,000 square feet of commercial space, structured parking, public open space, and significant road, sewer, water and other infrastructure improvements. The Redevelopment Agreement provides for municipal financing of the public infrastructure improvements, which will be paid by the revenue generated from a PILOT Agreement.
  
  
• Represents the Redeveloper of a nearly 300 acre industrial park, including obtaining site plan approval for the component development lots within the park and drafting and negotiating a Financial Agreement for payments in lieu of taxes.

Acquisition and Disposition.  Andy represents clients in a wide range of acquisition and disposition transactions including residential, office, industrial, retail, farmland and redevelopment projects.  Andy has a particular depth of experience in managing land development due diligence in connection with the acquisition of complex development and redevelopment projects. 

                Representative Transactions

• Recently represented a private real estate investment partnership in connection with the sale of an apartment complex in Mercer County, New Jersey and the simultaneous acquisition of an apartment complex in Orange County, New York and collateral swap under an existing multi-property credit facility owned by Freddie Mac. The acquired property included low income housing funded by a Housing Trust Fund Corporation grant, NYHMFA financing and Low Income Housing Tax Credits, and required approval by both HTFC and HMFA.
  
  
• Served as local counsel to a major institutional investor interested in purchasing a warehouse redevelopment project situated on a former landfill in Middlesex County, New Jersey.  Andy counseled the client on the myriad approvals needed to develop the project, including municipal approvals, State Tidelands Grants and DEP waterfront development permits, which were complicated by the presence of tidally influenced coastal wetlands that were alleged to be the habitat of an endangered species.

Leasing.  Andy represents both landlords and tenants in lease transactions for various uses including, offices, warehouses and athletic facilities. 

                Representative Transactions

• Represented the landlord of a major warehouse and distribution facility in connection with a lease to a subsidiary of a Fortune 100 Consumer Food Products company.
  
  
• Recently represented both a rock climbing gym and a fencing studio in long term leases of warehouse space both of which included approvals contingencies and extensive tenant improvements.

Pro Bono.  Andy is committed to Pro Bono work and has dedicated hundreds of hours of time counseling not-for-profit organizations on real estate and development related matters.  In 2007, the New York-New Jersey Trail Conference, a federation of member clubs and individuals dedicated to providing recreational hiking opportunities and representing the interests and concerns of the hiking community, recognized Andy’s “dedicated pro bono legal assistance” by awarding him the Trail Conference’s Corporate Partner Award.

    Representative Matters

• Represented the New York-New Jersey Trail Conference in connection with its acquisition of the Darlington Schoolhouse, an historic schoolhouse, which the Trail Conference intends to rehabilitate and use for its headquarters. The acquisition was accomplished through a public-private partnership in which the Trail Conference took joint title to the property with Mahwah Township utilizing New Jersey State Department of Environmental Protection Green Acres Funds and Bergen County Open Space Funds.  Andy counseled the Trail Conference through the complex transaction, and drafted and negotiated an intricate set of transaction documents, including the acquisition agreement, the agreement between the Township and the Trail Conference governing their relationship as owners of the property as tenants in common and the historic preservation and conservation easements, which will facilitate the rehabilitation of the historic schoolhouse and preserve the surrounding land as open space.
  
  
• Andy continues to represent the Trail Conference in connection with the complex approvals process required to restore and occupy the Darlington Schoolhouse, which, in addition to being listed on the National Register of Historic Places, is located within New Jersey’s Highlands Preservation Area and the flood hazard area of the Darlington Brook, is encumbered with wetlands and is in close proximity to alleged sightings of several threatened and endangered species, including Wood Turtles, Box Turtles and Rattlesnakes.

Education.  Andy received his B.A., magna cum laude, in political science from the George Washington University and his J.D. from Georgetown University Law Center where he was a founder and managing editor of the Georgetown Journal of Law and Public Policy and was awarded a Dean’s Certificate for outstanding contribution to the Law Center community.

In General.  Andy is a LEED® Accredited Professional, a credential awarded by the U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC) to those professionals who have demonstrated an advanced depth of knowledge in green building practices and in the Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED®) Green Building Rating System™.  Andy is admitted to practice law in New York and New Jersey.  He is a member of the Land Use Section of the New Jersey State Bar Association and the New Jersey chapter of NAIOP, the Commercial Real Estate Development Association.