Campus Infrastructure & Community Development

/Overview

We are committed to partnering with higher education institutions to enhance their surrounding communities through public-private infrastructure transactions. Our experienced team concentrates on structuring, negotiating, and successfully closing these transactions, ensuring mutual benefits for the institution and its neighboring communities.

Throughout each phase of a project's development, our seasoned project finance, estate, tax, and higher education attorneys provide invaluable guidance. We advise on the role of governing boards, the applicability of federal and state nonprofit regulations, and the complex financing issues unique to institutional owners.

Our team is experienced in all aspects of project development, including real estate, public and conventional financing, tax, design and construction, and land use. We keep abreast of the evolving trends that impact student housing, privatization, upgrading, and retrofitting of energy distribution systems while finding new uses for campus infrastructure and underutilized assets.

Nixon Peabody is proud to be a leading project finance law firm and a dedicated partner to institutions and community development councils. We are committed to helping you achieve your goals in community development law and ensuring the success of your projects that benefit both higher education institutions and their surrounding communities.

/Representative Experience

• University of Rochester’s (UofR’s) Orthopedic Surgery Center Retrofit Project: Represented UofR in connection with adaptive re-use of a shopping mall converting to an orthopedics and physical performance center, consisting of exam rooms, operating rooms, and space for therapy, sports training, and wellness services—the mixed-use development includes existing retail, a restaurant, and entertainment venues
• University of Rochester’s College Town: Represented UofR in negotiations of the development agreement, various financing documents, and local land use approvals for public-private College Town development project in Rochester, New York, transforming the neighborhood into a gateway to the University of Rochester Medical Center by adding 500,000 square feet of retail and restaurant space, a conference facility, hotel, parking, and housing
• Rochester Institute of Technology (RIT): Represented RIT in a joint venture with Rochester developer Wilmorite to develop, construct, and operate a mixed-use project on an approximately 60-acre parcel of RIT’s campus, consisting of residential apartments (approximately 900 beds) and retail, restaurant, and office space
• Massachusetts Green High-Performance Computing Center: Represent a joint venture comprised of five Massachusetts research universities constructing a super-computing center in Holyoke, Massachusetts, a groundbreaking collaboration between Harvard University, MIT, University of Massachusetts, Boston University, and Northeastern University and the Commonwealth of Massachusetts and private industry
• City University of New York (CUNY) Law School Commercial Condo: Represented CUNY in connection with the acquisition, development, and financing of a commercial condominium unit for the relocation of its law school in Long Island City, New York, and the development and financing of student housing facilities on multiple campuses throughout New York City
• St. John Fisher College Campus Expansions: Advised college on extensive campus expansions and in connection with bringing the Buffalo Bills training camp to its campus, which has become a successful annual community event
• CUNY Queens College and College of Staten Island: Represented CUNY in connection with the development and financing of student housing facilities on the campuses of the Queens College and the College of Staten Island, both senior colleges within the CUNY system; advised on structuring transactions and selecting bond issuer; drafting and negotiating conveyance documents, design and construction documents, development and management agreements, as well as reviewing and negotiating financing documents and giving tax advice
• Western University: Represented the university in connection with a student housing tax-exempt bond transaction, financing the construction of a new 306-bed student housing facility immediately adjacent to the university’s Pomona, California, campus; representation included structuring, negotiating, and drafting two separate leases for the project (for office space and student housing space) between the borrower, as the landlord, and the university, as the tenant
• Northeastern University: Represented the university on matters involving development, permitting, and zoning issues

/Recognition

• Nixon Peabody has been named a Tier 1 National firm for Real Estate Law in the 2025 edition of Best Law Firms®.