Faegre Baker Daniels understands both the business and government aspects of economic development. Our professionals have provided legal advice on public, private and public-private community development projects for foreign and U.S. businesses and nonprofits and government clients throughout the United States.
For public clients such as neighborhoods, cities, towns, counties, states, economic development organizations, universities and utilities, our team counsels on jobs development, business attraction, neighborhood and downtown revitalization, sports strategies, brownfield redevelopment, technology sector development, incubators, international trade development, military base reuse and adjustment, and rural and agricultural development. We also help emerging and established business clients in a variety of industries during startup, expansion and relocation.
Services provided by our economic development team include:
- Formation of comprehensive pre-development strategies
- Site selection, site preparation and related environmental issues
- Obtaining government approvals such as permits and zoning
- State and local tax analysis, planning and advice
- Incentive procurement and compliance, including tax increment financing, abatement, exemptions and credits
- Identification of state, local and federal grants and loans
- Preparation of and responses to requests for proposals and qualifications
- Negotiating construction contracts
- Plant closure and clawback issues
- Development and designation of certified technology parks
- Formation of joint ventures and land development deals
- Execution of public-private partnerships
Team members have significant economic development experience within government, having formerly served as economic development directors, deputy mayors and state public finance directors among other leadership positions. As a result, we can help our clients develop relationships with appropriate local, state and federal government agencies and advocate for them on economic development matters in city halls, state capitols and agencies at all levels of government. The experienced professionals at FaegreBD Consulting, our federal affairs division, provide insight from Washington, D.C., when federal issues arise during such projects.