Allan J. Abshez

Allan Abshez is widely recognized as a leading real estate and land use lawyer, and was named one of California’s Top Development, Land Use, and Municipal Infrastructure Lawyers by Daily Journal in 2014. During his 35-year career, Allan has played a leading role across the State of California in successfully guiding clients to the approval of their projects through the dizzying and constantly evolving array of land use laws, rules, regulations and politics that comprise the field of land use regulation. Allan’s deep experience includes projects across the entire spectrum of real estate development, including multi-family housing, affordable housing, master-planned communities, shopping centers, office buildings, entertainment centers, hotels, hospitals, college campuses, museums, motion picture studios, religious institutions, cemeteries, industrial facilities, solar energy projects, landfills and pipelines.

The scope of Allan’s practice covers the entire life cycle of development, from project conception and design, through public outreach, entitlement processing, and land use litigation. He works with his clients’ business professionals, architects and other experts to create interdisciplinary strategies that result in project approvals, while protecting against unreasonable exactions and impositions. Allan is particularly respected for his thoughtful advocacy in the community, before decision-makers, and in court.

Allan’s substantive experience includes, the Housing Accountability Act; Density Bonus Law; Inclusionary Housing; Permanent Supportive Housing; Transit-Oriented Communities (TOC); the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA)(including the preparation, processing, approval and litigation defense of CEQA documents); SB 35 Streamlined Approvals; Sustainable Communities Project Exemptions (SCPE); Historic Preservation; Rent Control; the Ellis Act; Development Agreements; and the Coastal Act.

Major project entitlements to Allan’s credit include numerous mixed-use multi-family housing projects, the Farmers Market/Grove Shopping Center, the J. Paul Getty Fine Arts Center, the Hollywood Park Racetrack NFL Stadium, the 20th Century Fox Studio Masterplan, Howard Hughes Center, the Wilshire and Remington Condominiums, Sunshine Canyon Landfill, the Marvin Davis Research Center at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, and Long Range Development Plans for the University of California’s Berkeley, Santa Cruz and Santa Barbara campuses.

Allan’s understanding of community and association with projects that create destinations, housing, economic value and jobs has led to his receiving numerous civic appointments, including appointments as a city planning commissioner and as a historic preservation commissioner. He has played a leading role in non-profit efforts to revitalize the LA River and Pershing Square. He is also a recognized leader within the development industry, and currently serves as a member of the Advisory Board of the Urban Land Institute’s LA chapter, and also chairs ULI/LA’s Housing Council, whose mission is identify best practices and policies that can be employed to remove barriers to the provision of greater, higher quality and more affordable housing opportunities to households of every income category.