Giordano, Halleran & Ciesla Names Commercial Leasing Shareholder and Real Property Tax, Affordable Housing Chairs
January 22, 2021
Donna A. McBarron has been named a shareholder, and Justin McCarthy and John A. Sarto have been named respective chairs of the Real Property and the Affordable Housing practices.
The appointments took effect on January 1st.
Donna, a member of the law firm's Real Estate Department, concentrates on commercial leasing. She reviews and negotiates deals for a wide range of first-class office and retail clients nationwide, from large corporations to family-owned businesses. Her clients include landlords and tenants.
Recently, much of her work has involved lease workouts resulting from the impact of Covid-19 on business operations.
Her experience has included commercial litigation and representation of purchasers, sellers, banks and borrowers in residential and commercial real estate transactions.
Previously, she was of counsel at the firm.
She earned her J.D. in 1998 from Rutgers University School of Law-Newark, where she was a member of the Rutgers Law Review. She graduated in 1995, Phi Beta Kappa, from Rutgers University.
Justin McCarthy, a taxation and land-use shareholder in the firm’s Land Use & Development Law Practice Group, represents individuals, developers, tenants and landlords in purchases and sales of commercial, mixed-use, residential and warehouse properties.
His property tax matters include residential, commercial and industrial valuation disputes; farmland assessment disputes; property tax exemptions, analyses and disputes; and rollback tax disputes. Before joining Giordano, he represented 25 municipalities in central and southern New Jersey in tax appeal litigation.
At present, the Real Property Taxation Practice is dealing with valuation impacts on residential, retail and commercial properties in light of Covid-19 government-imposed shutdowns and operational limitations.
Justin also represents lenders and borrowers in construction, refinancing and acquisition loans. In addition, he handles real estate transactions, leasing, land use and corporate/business matters.
John Sarto, a shareholder in the Land Use & Development and Affordable Housing practice groups, regularly counsels clients on affordable housing issues and municipal affordable housing obligations. His work includes negotiating rezoning proposals for higher density, inclusionary, residential development and redevelopment projects.
When necessary, he engages in litigation, including builder’s remedy lawsuits if municipal affordable housing obligations have not been met.
John provides counsel in all phases of development, including permitting, development applications before municipal planning and zoning boards, and appeals of arbitrary and unfavorable decisions.
He also handles matters involving the applicability and amount of affordable housing and non-residential development fees, the form and duration of deed restrictions, and permitted rent and sales prices of affordable units.
Posted in: Affordable Housing, Tax Appeals, Real Estate, Planned Real Estate Development, Land Use & Development Law and Leasing
