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With decades of experience, Vinson & Elkins’ Real Estate lawyers have addressed virtually every aspect of real estate development, regularly advising investors and property owners regarding everything from initial property evaluations and acquisition through finance, development, construction, entitlements, leasing, and final disposition of properties. The scale and complexity of our work provides our Real Estate Development practice with insights into cost efficiencies and strategic solutions that enable our clients to focus on completing their projects.
V&E’s team of lawyers actively and regularly represents clients regarding millions of square feet throughout the U.S., including more than $1 billion in new product development for a single client with a national real estate portfolio. We engage on a wide range of real estate projects, from industrial properties, energy industry development projects, office buildings, corporate headquarters, and retail centers to multifamily properties, mixed-use facilities, and raw land development. In addition, we help clients form joint ventures to develop commercial properties as we connect developers, investors, ideas, and capital. V&E’s Real Estate lawyers further assist clients in structuring, optimizing, and leveraging their real estate holdings, devising national development programs involving a wide range of properties. We also advise tenants and prospective tenants, as well as owners and developers, regarding issues in the context of build-to-suit and ground lease arrangements.
When fitting, V&E’s strong, multidisciplinary platform enables us to coordinate comprehensive guidance to provide clients with the most pertinent advice. We have extensive experience regarding real estate tax matters, including tax-advantaged structuring, income tax liability, and tax-incentive and tax-credit qualification. Our environmental lawyers are proficient in matters regarding compliance, environmental due diligence, and contamination containment and remediation obligations. Recognizing that each project and each jurisdiction has its own challenges, requirements, and restrictions, we offer clients the added value of our long-established national network of consultants and local counsel. They assist us in expeditiously resolving permitting, land use, zoning, and other entitlements issues, to assure compliance with all applicable laws, and resolve design and construction matters—all of which require market specific knowledge.
The Related Companies in the Willets Point development project in Long Island City, Queens, New York which will include a soccer stadium, 2,500 affordable homes (and largest new construction housing project in New York City in 40 years) a school, and hotel and retail space
A fund managed by Clarion Partners, LLC, in a joint venture with Trammell Crow Company, for the acquisition, financing and development of The Center at Needham Ranch, a multi-phase development containing approximately 1.9 million square feet of industrial and logistics space on approximately 250 acres of land in Santa Clarita, California
Fetner Properties in a joint venture with Carlyle for the ground-up development of the property located at 26-32 Jackson Avenue, Long Island City, New York
Perot Development Company in the formation of multiple joint ventures with Invesco Real Estate for the ground leasing, financing, development and subleasing of DFW Park 161, a multi-phase development containing approximately 2.4 million square feet of industrial warehouse and distribution space on approximately 196 acres of land at Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport
Stream U.S. Data Centers in the acquisition of approximately 135 acres in San Antonio, Texas for the construction and development of a data center facility
Cypress Equities in a joint venture and the development of one of the parcels of the mixed use development River District Neighborhood in New Orleans which will include a 142,000 square foot custom-designed office building and the first Class A office building constructed in New Orleans since 1989
Pacific Elm Properties in the development of Parkside, a 500,000 square-foot, 30-story tower located along Klyde Warren Park in Dallas, Texas and the lease of 238,000 square feet of space within the tower to Bank of America
Stream Realty Partners in a joint venture with Principal Financial Group and the acquisition of approximately 76 acres of land for initial development of a 140,000 square foot data center in Wilmer, Texas
The Related Companies, L.P. in its $200 million purchase of a site slated for a luxury condominium development in West Palm Beach, Florida, which is expected to include two 28-story towers
Daiwa House Texas, together with its JV partner High Street Residential, in a joint venture development project in the River Oaks district of Houston, Texas consisting of a 209-unit luxury multifamily complex
A fund managed by Clarion Partners, LLC in a multi-phase joint venture with PaulsCorp for the development and construction financings of multiple industrial buildings on approximately 103 acres in Aurora, Colorado
Real Estate Development
At Vinson & Elkins, we bring decades of knowledge, skill, and experience to our clients’ most complex legal matters.
Discover our latest:
Podcasts
Powering Progress Episode 13 – Power Is the Product: Negotiating Data Center Leases
As demand for data center capacity continues to accelerate, the real estate agreements behind these projects are changing with it. …
October 21, 2026
October 21, 2026 • 15-minute read
Articles
Data Center Leasing: 5 Strategies for Navigating Today’s Market
Demand for data center capacity has outpaced supply in nearly every major market, thanks to cloud growth and the AI …
August 26, 2026
August 26, 2026 • 2-minute read
Podcasts
Data centers may be powered by energy and technology, but their success also depends on the real estate structures that …
May 22, 2026
May 22, 2026 • 7-minute read
Event Recaps
Navigating Workout Discussions with Lenders – Trends from 2023
Vinson & Elkins attorneys discussed commercial real estate loan workouts and amendments: the path most often taken by commercial real estate lenders in 2023 when a borrower is facing a default.
November 9, 2023
November 9, 2023 • 1-minute read
Client Alerts
Real Estate’s Sustainability Challenge
Transitioning to a carbon-neutral economy will require meaningful commitment and action from nearly every major industry.
April 25, 2023 • Published by CorpGov.com
April 25, 2023 • 3-minute read
