Case Studies

In 2006, our firm acted as redevelopment counsel to the Bayonne Local Redevelopment Authority (the “BLRA”) in the sale of land and development rights on two blocks of property located on the Peninsula at Bayonne Harbor to Trammell Crow Residential, a nationally acclaimed and recognized developer. The Peninsula is a decommissioned U.S. Army Military Ocean Terminal conveyed to the BLRA for redevelopment. The Alexan City View consists of two luxury residential rental buildings containing 544 units with stunning views of the New York City Skyline. The total costs of the project exceeded $176 million, including the cost of the land. The Alexan City View is also the largest LEED-certified community in the United States. For more information on this project, please contact Joseph P. Baumann, Jr., Member.

We acted as redevelopment counsel to the Housing Authority of the City of Newark which carried out the Downtown Core Redevelopment Project in the City of Newark, consisting of the acquisition, development and construction of the multi-purpose Prudential Center. We also assisted with the issuance $200,420,000 in bonds to support the financing of the Downtown Core Redevelopment Project. For more information on this project, please contact Glenn F. Scotland, Member.

In 2009, our firm worked with The Hudson County Improvement Authority, the County of Hudson, the City of Bayonne Redevelopment Agency and the City of Bayonne (the “City”) in a multi-public body financing through the New Jersey Environmental Infrastructure Trust (the “NJEIT”) of a portion of a redevelopment project consisting of the remediation of a former petroleum site and the construction of a 356,000 square foot “big box” retail project located in the City of Bayonne. The financing, secured by Payments In Lieu Of Taxes, a Letter of Credit during construction and guaranties of the County and City, involved ten different public entities, required over 80 public votes, 23 different public/government approvals and permits and endured multiple lawsuits, all during an economic recession. The success of the financing depended on our firm working closely with each of the public entities, the redeveloper and the NJEIT in creating solutions to questions never asked of the NJEIT in prior financings. As a result, in part, of our prior experience with the NJEIT and our working relationship with members of the NJEIT and the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection, the City will now replace a severely contaminated 30-acre parcel of land with an exciting new retail power center that will generate tax revenue, urban enterprise zone revenue and thousands of construction and full-time jobs. For more information on this project, please contact Joseph P. Baumann, Jr., Member.

From 2006 through 2009, our firm worked with the Town of Harrison, the County of Hudson and the Hudson County Improvement Authority to assist the Town in implementing its redevelopment plan. This project involved the initial phase of a multi phased neighborhood in which a private developer was facing a series of site specific challenges during a time when conventional financing was contracting. The challenges included unanticipated costs associated with environmental remediation, utility relocation and infrastructure to service the multi-phase project which needed to be financed before the initial phase was commenced. Using two series of bonds secured by payments in lieu of taxes and special assessments, respectively, nearly $13 million in public subsidy was made available to the initial phase of the project. This level of public commitment required a coordinated security package be created to protect the interests of the Town without impacting the ability of the developers to obtain conventional financing. The result was the opening of a 275 unit building in September, 2011, with new revenues flowing to the Town and new residents inhabiting the first privately financed and owned project within the Town’s redevelopment area since 2004. In 2012, it is anticipated that the developers will begin phase II and Phase III of their project.

The firm has been actively engaged with the City of Bayonne and the BLRA in the redevelopment of the Peninsula at Bayonne Harbor which was decommissioned by the United States Army and transferred to the BLRA.  We represented the BLRA in the negotiation and execution of several conditional designation agreements, four redevelopment agreements, a project development agreement and an infrastructure improvements redevelopment agreement along with a wide variety of financial instruments and other supporting agreements.  For more information on these projects, please contact Joseph P. Baumann, Jr., Member.

We represented the New Jersey Economic Development Authority in the structuring and issuance of $140,552,550.30 in bonds under the Large Site Landfill Reclamation and Improvement Law to finance infrastructure and remediation costs associated with the Jersey Gardens Outlet Mall in Elizabeth. In 1998, this success story demonstrated the effectiveness of the law, but also the limits. This law eventually became the model for the Redevelopment Area Bond Financing Law that serves as the main financing tool for redevelopment in the State of New Jersey. For more information on this project, please contact John V. Cavaliere, Member.

We worked with a developer to rehabilitate an abandoned department store into over 11,000 square feet of retail space and 63 rental units. We were able to use an innovative formula under the Long Term Tax Exemption Law that guaranties the City 10% of a minimum rent roll for the rental units to help pay for certain costs of the project. For more information on this project, please contact Thomas J. Hastie, Member.

McManimon & Scotland, L.L.C. serves as lead redevelopment counsel in connection with the Westminster redevelopment project in the Wesley Lake Section of the City of Asbury Park. As lead redevelopment counsel, the firm will effectuate the phased development of several hundred for-sale residential units, as well as mixed-use development. For more information on this project, please contact Glenn F. Scotland, Member.

We represented the BLRA in connection with the proposed construction of a 102-acre parcel that will support at least 1,793 residential units, 500,000 square feet of office space, 134,000 square feet of retail space and 117,600 square feet of civic space. For more information on this project, please contact Joseph P. Baumann, Jr., Member.

We represented the BLRA in the simultaneous negotiation of two redevelopment agreements and associated notes, mortgages, access agreements, and an infrastructure improvement redevelopment agreement. One redeveloper will construct approximately 1,300 condominiums and town homes and the other redeveloper will construct approximately 540 rental units and a clubhouse. For more information on this project, please contact Joseph P. Baumann, Jr., Member.

We represented the BLRA in the negotiation of a redevelopment agreement with a global shipping company for construction of a roll-on roll-off facility for the importation and exportation of vehicles. We represented the BLRA in its efforts to win a motion for summary judgment in the law division and, after an appeal was filed, the successful motion requesting that the Appellate Division expedite the matter. Currently we are awaiting oral argument. For more information on this project, please contact Joseph P. Baumann, Jr., Member.

We serve as redevelopment counsel to the Borough in connection with a project that will consist of the construction of an approximately 250,000 square foot warehouse that, together with surface parking facilities, will serve as the engineering control, or “cap”, for certain contaminated property. For more information on this project, please contact Joseph P. Baumann, Jr., Member.

We serve as redevelopment counsel to the Borough in connection with the proposed construction of over 400,000 square feet of retail, office and warehouse space, a portion of which will be exempt from taxation under the Short Term Tax Exemption Law. We also represented the Borough in litigation, in the Superior Court of New Jersey, with the owners of some of the properties initially included in the designated redevelopment area. For more information on this project, please contact Joseph P. Baumann, Jr., Member.

We serve as redevelopment counsel to the Borough in connection with the proposed construction of over 400 market rate residential units, some of which will be leased and some of which will be offered for sale, as well as over 40,000 square feet of retail space. All of these improvements have been exempted from taxation under the Long Term Tax Exemption Law for the purposes of financing a portion of the costs of the project. This project required the use of eminent domain and the relocation of a number of individuals, families and businesses under applicable State and federal laws. For more information on this project, please contact Joseph P. Baumann, Jr., Member.

We serve as redevelopment counsel to the Borough in connection with the proposed construction of approximately 500 residential units and the construction of a terminal for a ferry service that is expected to serve the Borough and surrounding communities. The project will require the remediation of an environmentally-challenged area that is a designated Brownfields Development Area. For more information on this project, please contact Joseph P. Baumann, Jr., Member.

We serve as redevelopment counsel to the Borough in connection with the proposed construction of a 36,000 square foot community health and wellness center, including weight and exercise rooms, an 8,600 square foot multi-purpose sports room, a 7,000 square foot aquatics center with a swimming pool, physical therapy facilities, a café, and related office space. For more information on this project, please contact Joseph P. Baumann, Jr., Member.

We serve as redevelopment counsel to the Borough in connection with the proposed construction of a high-density housing project consisting of integrated market rate and affordable units offered for sale. For more information on this project, please contact Joseph P. Baumann, Jr., Member.

We served as redevelopment counsel to the Township in the successful negotiation and redevelopment of the former Ford Plant Site, consisting of over 100 acres. The project will consist of a lifestyle center with a hotel, theater, restaurants and shopping anchored by two large-format commercial retailers. We also successfully negotiated the donation of 7.5 acres of the property for the expansion of an adjacent park and the payment of $1,500,000 in development fees to the Township. For more information on this project, please contact Joseph P. Baumann, Jr., Member.

The firm serves as redevelopment counsel in connection with a comprehensive mixed-use, residential and retail redevelopment project to be undertaken within the Township’s Historic Downtown Redevelopment Area, which includes the Edison Battery Factory site. The project will consist of 609 residential units, including 71 affordable units, 50,000 square feet of retail and amenity space and a parking garage. The firm was also recently successful in obtaining Local Finance Board approval to issue $41,000,000 in Redevelopment Area Bonds in order to undertake certain infrastructure improvements and other improvements at the project site. For more information on this project, please contact Glenn F. Scotland, Member.

We represent the Woodbridge Redevelopment Agency (WRA) in the redevelopment of a former defense contracting facility. The site will be redeveloped into a themed, mixed use residential, retail and commercial development. For more information on this project, please contact William W. Northgrave, Member.

Our firm has assisted the Township and the WRA in negotiating agreements to develop warehouse space for a national internet retailer, expansion of warehouse space for a national overnight package delivery service and redevelopment of a highly contaminated site into a unique parcel transfer facility. The Township utilized provisions of the Redevelopment Area Bond Financing Act and the Long Term Tax Exemption Law to encourage redevelopment of these environmentally contaminated sites. For more information on this project, please contact William W. Northgrave, Member.

In November 2009, McManimon & Scotland, L.L.C., represented the Elizabeth Parking Authority and a newly formed 501(c)(3) non-profit corporation formed on behalf of the Parking Authority to complete a highly complex NMTC transaction involving a host of public stakeholders and their respective professionals, to finance the design, development, construction, operation and maintenance of an approximately 1,500-space, multi-level parking garage and related facility in the City of Elizabeth. This transaction involved multiple revenue sources, including public debt issued by the County of Union and Union County College, and an $11,875,000 NMTC loan. In addition to the NMTC financing, the firm completed in June 2010 the remainder of the $35,000,000 project financing using Recovery Zone Economic Development Bonds authorized by the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009. For more information on this project, please contact Glenn Scotland, Member.