Drenner Group Services
What We Do
Land Use Solutions
How can we help you?
Drenner Group staff has experience in a broad array of Central Texas markets, including condominiums, office, multifamily, high-rise mixed use, hotels, industrial, retail, single-family, master-planned communities, and suburban mixed use.
Additionally, Drenner Group is unique in our ability to work for both public and private entities. Our legal staff has experience working directly for municipalities and school districts throughout the Central Texas area.
Site Searches
Many of our clients involve us in their search for development sites. Typically, those clients identify the type of project they want to pursue, the relative size of the potential site, the height and density of the potential project, and any geographic restrictions. Working with the client and, in many cases, the client’s broker, we identify potential sites that may be viable due to existing entitlements or prospective changes in those entitlements.
Legal Due Diligence
Once a potential site is identified, our clients engage us to perform thorough due diligence relative to the site’s existing entitlements and, if applicable, potential modification of those entitlements. That exercise includes preparation of an Entitlements Memorandum which lists the existing entitlements and related site development regulations.
For sites that require modifications to existing entitlements, the general strategy to obtain such modifications is formulated during the due diligence stage. Our due diligence for such sites may include preliminary discussion regarding such modifications with interested parties, including City Council members, County Commissioners, Board or Commission members, City or County staff, neighbors or neighborhood representatives, and interest groups.
Entitlements
If a project requires new entitlements (zoning, modifications to neighborhood plans, subdivision, site development permits, or other permits), Drenner legal staff typically operates as the “quarterback” of the consulting team tasked with gaining such entitlements. On most cases, the consulting team includes a civil engineer, architect, traffic engineer and landscape architect.
Generally, Drenner legal staff are responsible for the following: (a) compiling the strategy that achieves the entitlements; (b) coordinating the consulting team’s efforts with City staff, Boards and Commissions and City Council or County Commissioners Court; (c) communications with neighborhood groups and other interested parties; (d) all presentations; (e) lobbying city council members and others on board and commission members that may vote on any desired entitlements; (f) communications with members of the media; and (g) all legal documentation related to the entitlements.
Real Estate Transactions
Drenner Group staff regularly represents entrepreneurial and institutional clients in connection with real estate and real estate finance transactions. With more than 27 years of experience representing landowners, developers, and financial institutions in all aspects of the real estate business, Greta Goldsby leads our Transactions Group providing unsurpassed expertise in:
Acquisitions and Dispositions: Representation of developers, institutional investors, REITs and other clients in the acquisition and disposition of office buildings, hotels, multi-family projects, mixed-use projects, healthcare real estate facilities, etc. with an emphasis on the related debt and equity structuring for institutional real estate investors and developers.
Development: Representation of developers of multifamily projects, healthcare facilities, assisted living facilities, and office projects in all stages of development, including acquisition, debt and equity financing, construction, leasing, and disposition.
Leasing: Representation of landlords/tenants in development ground leases, medical office building leases, subleases, and other issues relating to leasing.
Financing (Lender): Representation of financial institutions in making construction, permanent and other loans secured by real estate of all asset classes, including mezzanine financing arrangements. Representation includes handling complex loan workouts, foreclosures, modifications, and restructures of existing loans.
Financing (Borrower): Representation of borrowers in permanent and construction loan transactions secured by real estate of all asset classes, including hotel convention and conference centers, multifamily, office and retail including loan modifications and restructuring, including CMBS loan transactions.
Incentives
Occasionally, a proposed project may qualify for incentives from a municipality, county, or the State of Texas. In those cases, Drenner Group will coordinate the consulting team’s efforts to obtain such incentives and draft the legal documents associated with such incentives.
Specifically, Drenner Group staff have experience with Development Agreements regulated under Chapters 212, 312, and 313 of the Texas Local Government Code (LGC). We also have experience drafting legal agreements between public entities (i.e., Interlocal Agreements) and pursuing incentives under the Texas Enterprise Fund, Texas Enterprise Zone Program, and the Texas Jobs, Energy, Technology & Innovation (JETI) Program.
Code & Ordinance Drafting
Drenner Group has successfully represented development and public interests in Austin, Central Texas, and around the state for over 45 years. We have acted in consultation with local governments in drafting development agreements containing land use ordinances and development regulations, we have been charged with implementing numerous codes and ordinances through appointed service on several planning commissions and development- oriented task forces, and we have worked within professional organizations on the development of industry best-practices.
Advocacy
Drenner legal staff has extensive experience and success representing clients at public hearings related to entitlements, development agreements, and real estate transactions. As registered lobbyists, we work with our clients to develop an advocacy strategy and regularly meet with elected officials and other public decisions makers to implement that strategy.
Land Use Consulting
With a diverse group of professionals including planners, engineers, and code experts, Drenner Group is well-versed in helping our clients understand the existing, future, and best use of their properties. While we leave the nuts and bolts to traditional land planning firms, we do provide our clients with outstanding guidance on zoning and annexation issues, subdivision cases, comprehensive planning initiatives, site compatibility issues, development agreements, planned unit development (PUD) agreements, utility agreements, historical preservation issues, site layouts, and evaluations of land use alternatives – all with an eye towards the economic and social conditions that could impact the long-term success of a site.
Drenner Group staff includes Professional Engineers, Certified Planners, Certified Project Managers, Certified Floodplain Managers, Certified Professionals in Erosion and Sedimentation Control, and code experts.
Permitting
Due to the depth of Drenner Group’s experience in obtaining various permits from municipal and county authorities, some clients choose to have Drenner Group assist in an expanded fashion with all aspects of the permitting process for development projects. Those permits include:
- Alley Vacations
- Certificates of Occupancy
- Conditional Use Permits
- Demolition and Relocation Permits
- Easement Releases
- Encroachment Agreements
- Land Status Determinations
- License Agreements
- Permits Required for Historical Properties
- Right of Way Permits
- Sign Permit Applications
- Site Development Permits
- Subdivision Applications
- Temporary Use Permits
- Tree Permits
- Zoning Verification Determinations
Water Planning
In an increasingly drought prone Central Texas, economic growth and development are tied to availability of water – for everyday single family and multifamily use, for retail, office, commercial and industrial use, for the irrigation of parks and open space, and even to produce the energy we use every day.
Drenner Group has a unique niche in Central Texas with its substantial water planning expertise – and the corresponding relationships to help our clients understand not only their water supply options, but what water demand choices they may have that might ease permitting red tape and reduce project opposition.
Environmental Planning
Promoting successful, well-designed development while also advancing the principals of environmental stewardship is important to many jurisdictions in Central Texas and around the state – and many of our clients share the same values. We are truly unique in our market in our ability to provide a holistic framework to achieve sustainable outcomes in the plans and developments we support. In order to address these issues on a particular project, Drenner Group principals typically provide guidance and strategic direction in a team environment with the client and other technical experts development consultants.
Our in-house water planning expertise includes water conservation, water planning, water reuse and recycling, low impact development, sustainable stormwater management, solar and alternative energy, natural system restoration, green building, solid waste management and recycling, air quality and emissions, environmental remediation, conservation development and conservation easements.
Project Management
Many clients routinely contract different components of their projects to different consultants, including architects, engineers, environmental specialists, traffic specialists, permit expediters, and attorneys. A successful permitting and entitlement process relies on effective coordination between these entities, and a seasoned Project Manager is necessary to make this happen.
Drenner Group project managers regularly serve as main point of contact with our clients, participate and lead strategy discussions, coordinate internal meetings between discipline consultants, coordinate meetings with permitting entities, minimize comment review turnaround times, assign tasks and monitor progress, and track project schedules and budgets.
Code Compliance
Drenner Group provides code compliance review of various applications, documents and strategies related to existing non-compliant sites or structures, various redevelopment scenarios, and new greenfield construction. Our team specializes in zoning, subdivision, traffic, and environmental codes and can review administrative and non-administrative requests to ensure completeness and quality control, thereby eliminating unnecessary comments and delays.
We routinely review Conditional Use Permits, Land Use Plans, Preliminary Plans and Subdivision Plats, Site Development Permits, Small Area Plans, and we can also assist with the filing of extensions or appeals on behalf of property owners and applicants.
