Gareth I. Orsmond

Multi-Family/Waterfront

• Lead counsel for Cronin Development LLC on waterfront permitting for various projects, including The St. Regis Residences, a $260±-million mixed-use project in Boston’s Innovation District featuring an iconic 22-story building and substantial public benefits, including funding for 46 units of affordable senior housing and harbor experiences for disadvantaged children. Gareth also served as lead litigation counsel in lawsuits filed to block this development. CEO Jon Cronin said, “Gareth treated all of our challenges as if they were his own and provided clear, thoughtful legal counsel and strong advocacy.”

Mixed Use

• Special town counsel for the Town of Westwood, Mass., on several matters, including: (i) University Station, a 2.1 million-square-foot multiphase mixed-use project that turned a 130±-acre moribund industrial park into a vibrant development; and (ii) the redevelopment of Islington center, which required a lengthy, multiphase land disposition agreement to govern several land swaps essential to redevelopment.

Sports Facilities

• Counsel for The Skating Club of Boston in its development of a three-rink, 179,000-square foot state-of-the-art training and performance center in Norwood, Mass., including an Olympic-sized arena and training facilities designed in partnership with The Micheli Center For Sports Injury Prevention. CEO and Executive Director Doug Zeghibe said, “Gareth was thorough and efficient in providing counsel for all of our purchase and sale transactions. Having never bought or developed commercial property, we were new to the industry. He worked through the process with us and fully explained every situation. His services were detailed and complete, and delivered with a professionalism and perspective that were greatly appreciated.”

Industrial

• Counsel for the developer of a four-story, state-of-the-art self-storage facility with co-working space in Quincy, Mass., which required creating a new parcel out of an expansive Home Depot parking lot, extending a public way, abandoning municipal easements, and amending and obtaining many permits.
• Counsel for a REIT purchasing a 208,169±-square foot industrial warehouse-style building on a 26±-acre riparian parcel in a large industrial park in Hudson, New Hampshire, and permitting a 100,000±-square foot addition.

Public Trust Doctrine/Waterways

• Obtained separate Land Court and Suffolk Superior Court judgments holding that the Mystic River Wharfing Acts from the 1800s extinguished the public interest in tidelands improved with two turn-of-the century warehouse buildings, removing the land and buildings from the jurisdiction of the Public Waterfront Act, M.G.L. c. 91.

Commercial

• Represented The Skating Club of Boston in the subdivision and sale of land off Soldiers Field Road in Boston, Mass., for over $40 million and the division and purchase of land in Norwood, Mass., that required resolving issues created by a complex network of easements developed for an abandoned office park.

Hospitality

• Represented hospitality purveyors in several matters, including:
  • The purchase, repurposing, and refinancing of a 14-building, 129-room extended stay hotel in Merrimack, New Hampshire.
  • The purchase, renovation, and permitting of a 65-room hotel in Marlborough, Mass., and conversion to an extended-stay hotel.
  • Providing counsel on complicated title and title insurance matters arising from land use controls and air rights for a 326-room micro hotel in Boston’s Seaport District.

Affordable Housing

• Counsel for a developer purchasing apartments in Quincy, Mass., and converting these apartments to affordable and workforce housing using various subsidies and funding sources, including a $2.5 million no-interest loan from Quincy’s Affordable Housing Trust Fund and low-income housing tax credits.
• Led permitting efforts for affordable housing developments ranging from eight to 200 units.

Leasing/Ground Leases

• Prepared a lengthy, detailed ground lease for parts of Hood Park, a 20-acre mixed-use, transit-oriented development.
• Negotiated and prepared numerous commercial leases, including a lease for an energy storage project in southern Massachusetts and multiple leases for The Skating Club of Boston.

Government Subsidies

• Represented the Massachusetts Development Finance Agency in several subsidizing efforts, including subsidies for (i) improvements to Union Station in Springfield in connection with redevelopment secured by mitigation payments from a casino, and (ii) a 70-unit mixed-use, work-force housing development in Beverly, Mass.

Environmental Policy and Planning

• Long-time outside counsel to the Cape Cod Commission; advises the Commission on conflicts of interest, open meeting law requirements, public records law, and land use and environmental matters generally; reviews and prepares legislation and regulations to develop regulatory and planning initiatives.

Hazardous Waste Cleanup

• Lead counsel for the City of Somerville with respect to contamination at Conway Park due to historical industrial uses in the neighborhood. Led the city in negotiations with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency culminating in an innovative work share arrangement to clean up the site.
• Lead counsel for the City of Salem, Mass., with respect to contamination at Mansell Field, Gallows Hill Park attributable to turn-of-the-century tannery businesses.
• Represented the trustee of a government-appointed custodial trust of land within the Industriplex Superfund Site in Woburn, Mass., in the discharge of its fiduciary duties under a consent decree and other agreements.
• Counseled a condominium association in Somerville, Mass., on indoor air quality issues caused by groundwater contamination due to past manufacturing uses.

Environmental Damage/Public Interest

• Represented the City of Somerville in its dispute over the environmental, health and quality of life impacts of a large resort casino proposed in close proximity to Assembly Square and City Hall; successfully challenged the casino's waterways license through an administrative appeal that, among other thing, led to a condition requiring water transportation to mitigate traffic impacts.
• Represented families whose homes were built on contaminated municipal landfills in different towns, obtaining settlement agreements with high six-figure damages in each case.

Water Pollution Abatement

• Counsel for the Cape Cod and Islands Water Protect Fund Management Board; prepared bylaws and regulations to establish protocols for a new subsidy program for water pollution abatement projects in conjunction with the Clean Water Trust and the Massachusetts State Revolving Fund.

Drinking Water Supply

• Counseled a 101-home community in New Hampshire’s seacoast region facing salt water intrusion of its private water supply; negotiated a comprehensive agreement with the municipality to extend the public water supply to serve the community.

Conservation

• Represented the owner of Jewell Hill, a 296-acre tract of farmland and forestland spanning Fitchburg, Ashby, and Ashburnham in a bargain sale to The Trustees of Reservation for conservation purposes while reserving a term estate and addressing environmental matters.
• Represented the YMCA Southcoast in amending a conservation restriction to permit the use of property in Dartmouth, Mass., for its “Sharing the Harvest” community farm.
• Represented the Westwood Land Trust in its first-ever purchase of development rights in a 33.4-acre parcel of land near Hale Reservation for conservation purposes.

Energy Storage Projects

• Represents a clean energy company in a transaction involving battery storage facilities.

Power Plant Due Diligence

• Performed due diligence for one of the largest power generation companies in the U.S. in connection with its bid to obtain several power plants in New England.

Federal Energy Regulation

• Represented a major technology company impacted by the layout of a gas pipeline; intervened in a Federal Energy Regulatory Commission proceeding to resolve the dispute.

• Haugh v. Housing Appeals Comm., et al., Civil Action No. 1882CV01167 (Norfolk Sup. Ct. 2019), and Warren Place LLC v. City of Quincy Zoning Bd. of Appeals, Docket No. 2017-0 (Housing Appeals Comm. 2018) (overturning the denial of a comprehensive permit under M.G.L. c. 40B and upholding the Housing Appeals Committee decision)
• Donato Pizutti, as Trustee of CCC Realty Trust, v. Commonwealth of Massachusetts, Civil Action No. 1784CV00261 (Suffolk Sup. Ct. 2017), and Land Court Case No. 16-SBQ-01874-11-001 (2017) (declaring the public trust doctrine and M.G.L. c. 91 inapplicable to certain tidelands)
• Matter of Wynn MA, LLC, Docket No. 2016-004 (Mass. Dep’t of Environmental Protection 2016) (resulting in changes to a major waterways license on appeal)
• Palitz v. Zoning Bd. of Appeals of Tisbury, 470 Mass. 795 (2015) (amicus) (limiting the extension of lawfully pre-existing nonconforming uses)
• Alliance to Protect Nantucket Sound, Inc. v. Energy Facilities Siting Board, 457 Mass. 663 (2010) (clarifying the relationship between energy regulation and the Cape Cod Commission Act)
• Arno v. Commonwealth, 457 Mass. 434 (2010) (establishing new law on the public trust doctrine and title to registered land)
• Zoning Bd. of Appeals of Canton v. Housing Appeals Committee, 451 Mass. 158 (2008) (upholding comprehensive permit regulations)
• Allen Homestead Development, LLC v. Town of Sturbridge Cons. Commission, 20 Mass. L. Rapt. 564 (2006) (overturning a denial under a local wetlands protection ordinance)
• Zuckerman v. Town of Hadley, 442 Mass. 511 (2004) (amicus) (overturning a zoning bylaw establishing annual limits on building permits)