Bercow Radell Fernandez Larkin & Tapanes > Miami, United States > Firm Profile

Bercow Radell Fernandez Larkin & Tapanes Offices

Bercow Radell Fernandez Larkin & Tapanes
200 South Biscayne Boulevard
Suite 300
Miami, FL 33131
FLORDIA
United States
Visit website 1 305 374 5300 1 305 377 6222

Bercow Radell Fernandez Larkin & Tapanes > The Legal 500 Rankings

Real estate > Land use/zoning Tier 2

The Florida-based boutique firm Bercow Radell Fernandez Larkin & Tapanes is reputed for its depth of expertise in land use, zoning, and environmental matters. The department is headed by Jeffrey Bercow, Ben Fernandez, Michael Larkin and Melissa Tapanes Llahues, all of whom are based in Miami. Bercow ‘provides thoughtful and sensible counsel to clients based on years of experience and expedites the approval process by recommending creative yet attainable solutions’, while Fernandez is adept at providing advice on the full range of land use and zoning matters, ranging from permitting and due diligence reviews to environmental and historic preservation matters. Larkin handles a wide variety of zoning and appellate litigation matters in Miami Beach, and Tapanes Llahues represents landowners, industrial clients and developers and specializes in legislative quasi-judicial affairs. In December 2023, Paul Savage joined the firm from Rasco Klock Perez & Nieto.

Practice head(s):

Jeffrey Bercow; Ben Fernandez; Michael Larkin; Melissa Tapanes Llahues

Other key lawyers:

Graham Penn; Paul Savage; Maritza Haro Salgado

Testimonials

‘Bercow Radell are known to be very reputable, extremely competent, and also a pleasure to work with.’

‘Melissa Tapanes is a force. She is extremely knowledgeable, strategic, and smart, in addition to being a very kind human being.’

‘The firm has a strong reputation for providing effective and accurate advice to clients, a quality that is recognized by the various government agencies they interface with on behalf of those clients.’

‘Jeffrey Bercow, the seasoned founder of the firm, provides thoughtful and sensible counsel to clients based on years of experience and expedites the approval process by recommending creative yet attainable solutions.’

‘Graham Penn’s familiarity with the processes and people involved in the Miami Beach regulatory environment is unmatched. His knowledge has proved crucial to our efforts to take on various issues with the zoning and building approval processes.’

‘Graham Penn has been consistently responsive, informed, and creative in thinking about problems.’

‘The team at Bercow Radell Fernandez & Larkin has been incredibly efficient, professional and determined to ensure the project comes to life. Their knowledge and experience in navigating systems and processes exceeded all of our expectations. There was no obstacle that was too big or challenging for them. They are quick and creative problem solvers with a heart to make their community better.’

‘Melissa Tapanes’ leadership skills and her creativity have moved mountains for our project. Melissa has been committed to ensuring our dream of expanding become a reality. She helped us navigate challenging obstacles and always remained available and engaged not only with our project but with our organization. She became invested in our mission and went above and beyond. Our interactions did not feel like a transaction but like a true collaboration to accomplish something significant together to make Miami a better place.’

Key clients

27th and Coral Way, LLC

27th and Coral Way 2, LLC

The Ritz Carlton

D.R. Horton Inc.

RFR Holdings, LLC

Nomade Lido, LLC

Biscayne Shores Development Group

Altman Real Estate

Unsafe Structures Cases

North at Brickell II, LLC

Sobe 18, LLC

Waste Connections

Reva Dadeland, LLC

Urban Network Capital Group, LLC

1840 Partners LLC

Pelican Harbor Seabird Station, Inc

Citizen M

Community Habilitation Center, Inc.

9300 Collins Owner, LLC

Florida’s Live Local Act Cases

Work highlights

  • Advised the Ritz Carlton South Beach and Sagamore hotels on an endeavor encompassing the extensive renovation and restoration of the Sagamore Hotel and the introduction of a new residential building to the site.
  • Advised Biscayne Shores Development Group and Altman Real Estate on the development of two properties once unified by a covenant.
  • Assisted D.R. Horton with developing a new live-work community in South Miami-Dade County.

Bercow Radell Fernandez Larkin & Tapanes > Firm Profile

Bercow Radell Fernandez Larkin & Tapanes is South Florida’s premier boutique law firm specializing in land use, zoning and environmental matters. The award-winning boutique firm was established in 1996 to provide strategic advice on zoning, land use and environmental law and is recognized for its expertise and breadth of experience.

The firm’s attorneys have expertise in regulations governing real property, land development, construction permitting and business licensing. Its clients are international, domestic and local landowners, developers, institutions, investors and businesses seeking approvals from government boards and agencies at the local, state and federal level. The firm excels at managing complex and politically sensitive legislative and quasi-judicial matters, from initial due diligence to construction.

Main areas of practice: The firm’s exclusive areas of practice are the fields of land use, zoning and environmental law.

Land use: the firm has extensive knowledge and experience of devising creative, custom strategies for interpreting and amending text and maps of local government comprehensive plans. For example, it represented a property owner in its efforts to redevelop an abandoned 200-acre golf course, and obtained approval of a proposed redevelopment plan with 400,000 square feet of commercial space, as well as 1.6m sq. ft of logistics/distribution uses; we subsequently represented a national residential developer in a successful amendment of the prior approvals for a 750 home residential community.

Zoning: the firm counsels clients and design professionals in identifying issues, preparing applications, negotiating with stakeholders, expediting processing and presenting zoning applications before local government boards. It represented a national developer in the due diligence, acquisition, stakeholder outreach, land use, zoning and permitting of a ten-acre mixed-use development on the Miami River in the urban core of the city of Miami; and we have represented two regional developers in a transit oriented mixed-use development at the Douglas Road MetroRail station site in Miami, long considered to be the “crown jewel” of Miami-Dade’s MetroRail stations.

Environmental: firm attorneys represent the interests of property owners, commercial enterprises, industrial users, waste management companies and rock quarrying businesses in environmental permitting and compliance, variances and exemptions, wetlands determination and mitigation, brownfields, and severable use rights. In the past we obtained approval for two new nuclear reactors at an existing facility in a designated environmental protection subarea, along with approvals for a series of temporary construction roads, two ancillary facilities required for nuclear reactor cooling water, a reclaimed water treatment facility and radial collector wells.

Main Contacts

Department Name Email Telephone
Land Use and Zoning Jeffrey Bercow jbercow@brzoninglaw.com 305-377-6220
Land Use and Zoning Ben Fernandez bfernandez@brzoninglaw.com 305-377-6235
Land Use and Zoning Michael Larkin mlarkin@brzoninglaw.com 305-377-6231
Land Use and Zoning Melissa Tapanes Llahues mtapanes@brzoninglaw.com 305-377-6227

Staff Figures

Number of Partners : 11
Number of Other Fee-Earners : 4
Other Staff : 2

Languages

English
Spanish