Overview
Honigman’s Development and Regulated Real Estate Practice Group helps clients transform vision into reality by delivering business-focused legal support at every stage of development and investment. Recognized as Michigan’s top-ranked real estate practice by Chambers USA for more than 20 years, the group serves developers, investors, and institutions across the U.S. and internationally.
Clients gain full lifecycle support—from concept and land acquisition through permitting, financing, construction, leasing, tax mitigation, and disposition. The team integrates top-tier regulatory insight with deep transactional experience, ensuring projects move forward efficiently and with minimized risk.
Specialized capabilities include:
- Construction Planning – Efficiently guiding projects from planning through dispute resolution by combining development insight with litigation strength.
- Economic Development Incentives – Identifying, securing, and negotiating federal, state, and local incentives to reduce costs and enhance project viability.
- Environmental – Nationally recognized for navigating regulatory compliance, site remediation, permitting, and due diligence while protecting clients from liabilities.
- Affordable Housing – Advising clients through the complex business, legal and regulatory issues associated with the structuring, development, financing, ownership and operation of affordable housing projects utilizing state and federal low-income housing tax credits, tax-exempt bond financing, HUD and numerous other federal, state and local financing and incentive programs.
- Tax Appeals – Achieving significant property tax savings by ensuring fair assessments and representing clients in valuation disputes nationwide.
- Zoning and Land Use – Counseling clients through zoning compliance planning, approvals, variances, negotiations with municipalities, and litigation when needed.
By bringing together regulatory, transactional, and dispute resolution capabilities under one umbrella, Honigman delivers practical, innovative solutions that align with business objectives. Clients benefit from the firm’s strong industry relationships, proven track record on landmark developments, and unwavering focus on creating long-term value.
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Representative Matters
- Construction Planning - Drafted and negotiated a construction contract on behalf of a client for a $16 million, 200+ unit rental development in Chicago.
- Economic Development Incentives - Negotiated incentive package valued at more than $50 million for multinational company investment in Michigan.
- Environmental - Negotiated mutually satisfactory resolutions, including substantially reduced penalties for clients, consulting engineers, and regulatory agencies to develop innovative alternatives to fines and penalties such as “supplemental environmental projects” to benefit the environment.
- Affordable Housing - Represented developer in all aspects of a $50M ground-up development of a workforce housing project involving tax-exempt bond financing, the syndication of low-income housing tax credits and multiple other debt sources, which was awarded the real estate deal of the year in 2023 by Crain’s Grand Rapids Business
- Tax Appeals - Achieved passage of property tax, sales tax, use tax, Michigan Business Tax, and Single Business Tax legislation that has saved taxpayers over $150 million.
- Zoning and Land Use - Represented a global food-production company in North American real estate transactions and developments. Services include site selection, land assemblage, procurement of economic development incentives, build to suit leases, acquisition, liquidation, expansion, decommissioning, and relocation of production facilities, distribution centers and offices
Band 1
Honigman's real estate practice has been ranked Band 1 in Michigan by Chambers USA since 2003
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$25B+
Our total deal value in 2023 and 2024 was over $25,000,000,000
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47M+
Our 2023 and 2024 representations encompassed more than 47,000,000 square feet
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50
We have handled transactions in all 50 states