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 3

Bercow Radell Fernandez Larkin & Tapanes is a boutique land use, zoning and environmental law firm operating out of Miami. Complex and legislative quasi-judicial matters, often also politically sensitive, form a core pillar of the group’s work in the space, including the full-life cycle of projects from initial due diligence, through to construction, re-zoning, site planning and permitting matters, among others. Four attorneys jointly chair the department – esteemed practitioner and co-founding partner Jeffrey Bercow is vastly experienced on federal real estate permitting and licensing matters, including zoning and approvals, developments of regional impacts and environmental matters, among many others. He is joined by Ben Fernandez , who focuses his practice on representing landowners, institutional clients and developers on the full-suite land use and zoning matter. Melissa Tapanes Llahues seeks licensing and regulatory approvals from governmental bodies and agencies on behalf of landowners, institutional clients and developers. Michael Larkin  rounds out the management team, and is a key name in Miami-Dade county, where he regularly appears before governmental departments and commissions. Graham Penn  is also a key figure, offering broad land use and zoning experience and handling appellate litigation matters.

Practice head(s):

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

Other key lawyers:

Graham Penn

Testimonials

‘BRFLT is a team of highly-qualified, savvy and experienced attorneys with a proven track record of success ranging from relatively small matters to complex matters of impact and significance.‘

‘Melissa Tapanes Llahues is outstanding! She offers a unique blend of energy, tenacity and knowledge. She gets things done, at a very high level, not only as an advocate for her clients but also for the community as a whole.‘

Key clients

Aligned Real Estate Holdings LLC

Location Acquisitions

Adler Development Group and 13th Floor Investments

Lennar Homes

Westview Plaza

Panattoni Development Company

KTC SW 88 Street LLC

JDS Development Group – 1 Southside Park

JDS Development Group – 888 Brickell

Downtown Retail Associates

Block 55 Owner

Minor Street LP – Prescott Mansion

SPV Realty LC – Sabal Palm Village

Mana Common, Sharing Space and Sharing Sense

The Witkoff Group

D.R. Horton

Leeward Subdivision Phase III

411 Michigan SOFI Owner, LLC

GFS

Biscayne Boulevard Investments

Belen Jesuit Preparatory School

27th and Coral Way

RFR Holdings

Work highlights

  • Represented Aligned Real Estate Holdings LLC, the contract purchaser of approximately 174 acres at the northwest corner of SW 107 Avenue and SW 268 Street in unincorporated Miami-Dade County.
  • Advising on the development of Miami-Dade County’s first agriculture neighborhood, or “Agrihood.”
  • Representing JDS Development Group in a public private partnership with the City of Miami to redevelop 3.4 acres of land, known as Block 85, located within the City’s West Brickell.

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