Contact Information

555 Capitol Mall 9th Floor

Sacramento CA 95814

916.444.3900

jcoomes@mhalaw.com

Practice Focus

Land Use

Planning

Redevelopment

Military Base
Closure & Reuse

Joseph E. Coomes, Jr. | Shareholder

Professional Experience

Joe’s practice is concentrated in the area of redevelopment, land use and planning law, including military base closure and reuse. MHA serves as special redevelopment counsel to over 50 cities and several counties in California and several cities in other states, and represents a number of developers engaged in redevelopment and large land use projects. Joe, in particular, also represents a number of public agencies, major developers in complex land use matters and in the negotiation of development agreements. He has successfully negotiated some of the largest and most difficult urban mixed-use redevelopment projects in California, including San Francisco’s Yerba Buena Gardens, and downtown San Jose’s Silicon Valley Financial Center. He has also negotiated multiple-party planning development agreements for such cities as Sacramento, San Jose, and Tracy and San Joaquin County.

In l997, he represented the owners of Arco Arena and the Sacramento Kings NBA Team in a successful public refinancing of the private debt on the arena and team which enabled the Kings to remain in Sacramento. Also, working with Ed Quinn in this firm who represents a major developer, he helped negotiate and structure a tax-exempt financing of a downtown convention center hotel in Sacramento.

In the area of military base closures and reuse, he has represented the City of Novato and its redevelopment agency since the mid-1980’s in the successful residential redevelopment of Hamilton Field in Marin County, and has also been engaged in reuse planning for Treasure Island in San Francisco and Castle Air Force Base in Merced. In 2005, two major redevelopment projects at Fort Ord that he negotiated for private developers in the City of Marina and the County of Monterey were approved.

Joe is a frequent lecturer before state, national and international organizations on the subjects of urban development and land use planning. In the last several years, he has been invited to London, Tokyo and Beijing to speak and confer on urban development issues.

Representative Matters

Represent two large developers for mixed use redevelopment projects at Fort Ord, Monterey County.

Represent a publicly owned land company in the planning and implementation of a 1000 acre new community in Merced County to represent the new UC Merced.

Represent the on-going implementation of projects at Hamilton Field in the City of Novato, Marin County, and in the City’s redevelopment project areas.

Represented numerous cities and their redevelopment agencies throughout California and other states.

Represented private developers in the Sacramento region, and other areas of the state.

Presentations/Publications

Co-Author, Redevelopment in California, Solano Press Books (3d ed. 2004).

Contributing Author, monthly column in “California Builder,” California Building Industry Association, 1989-1991.

Author, “Practical Concerns in Drafting and Negotiating Development Agreements” chapter in Development Agreements, Practice, Policy and Prospects (Urban Land Institute 1990).

Leadership Positions/Affiliations

Member, American Bar Association

Member, American Bar Foundation Fellow

Member, State Bar of California

Member, Sacramento County Bar Association

Member, Urban Land Institute

Senior Fellow (Class III), American Leadership Forum, Mountain Valley Chapter (Sacramento Region)

Member and past Chairman, University of Southern California Advisory Committee

Chairman, Valley Vision (1997-2000)

President, Sacramento Metropolitan Chamber of Commerce (1977)

Chairman, Advisory Board of Sacramento Public Affairs Center (1989)

Chairman, Capitol Area Development Authority (1978-1985)

President, Sacramento Area Commerce and Trade Organization (1978-79)

Honors/Awards

“Samuel J. Cullers Outstanding Achievement Award,” Lambda Alpha International, Sacramento Chapter (2007)

Recognized on The Best Lawyers in America® 2007 and 2008 list, Land Use and Zoning Law

“Fame Award”, Commercial Real Estate Women (CREW) (2000)

“Lawyer of the Year”, Sacramento County Bar Association (1996)

“Sacramentan of the Year”, Sacramento Metropolitan Chamber of Commerce (1990)

“Distinguished Counsel Award”, Housing and Development Law Institute (1987)

Guest Instructor in Land Use, Redevelopment, Fall Semester 1985, Massachusetts Institute of Technology

MHALaw Search

Admitted to Practice

State Bar of California, 1957

Education

University of California, Boalt Hall School of Law

L.L.B., 1957

University of California, Berkeley

A.B., Journalism, 1954