Haddonfield Law Firm Bisgaier Hoff Expands Real Estate Practice

Richard Hoff Jr., left, founding partner, and Peter Flannery, newly named partner, Bisgaier Hoff law firm, Haddonfield, NJ

HADDONFIELD, NJ— Bisgaier Hoff opened its doors in 2010 as a law firm primarily focused on land use and related litigation, a practice area many firms were avoiding as the depths of the real estate recession were still being tested. Despite the challenges of the times, founding partners Carl S. Bisgaier and Richard J, Hoff Jr. remained confident they could grow a firm dedicated to the needs of their real estate client base, Hoff   tells GlobeSt.com exclusively . Now, Hoff says, redevelopment projects are probably the best opportunity in commercial real estate he sees for his clients. “Redevelopment gives a municipality and an end user real flexibility on the taxation structure,” he says. “Redevelopment is a good way to draw in commercial development and I think that’s why you’re seeing towns use redevelopment to their advantage. It’s to address the taxation situation and make it more palatable for end-users to come in and not get crushed with ad valorem taxes.” (You can hear an extended audio interview with Richard Hoff in the player below.) The pair, along with their other partner, David Oberlander , were working on land use law and affordable housing work at a different firm. “Come 2010, obviously the real estate market wasn’t in the best shape, and just from myself and Carl’s perspective, we were looking for something different than the big firm approach,” he says. “We knew we were going to grow it carefully into a well-rounded real estate boutique.” The strategy is paying off. The Haddonfield firm has transformed itself into a true real estate boutique, and, to help expand its practice base even further, recently brought on board two attorneys with extensive large-firm experience. “Clients have been asking us to do more complex transactional and redevelopment work.  With these quality additions, we’re are able to assist our clients in areas well beyond land use and affordable housing, the areas we have become known for,” Hoff, managing partner at the eight-lawyer firm, says of the expanded practice. The attorneys who recently joined are Matthew Azoulay , previously with Dilworth Paxson in Cherry Hill, and Peter M. Flannery , previously with Sills Cummis & Gross in Princeton. Both joined Bisgaier Hoff as partners, and add wider land use experience to the firm’s services. To illustrate, Hoff points to the firm’s recent representation of RD Management in dealing with redevelopment issues in the nearby Burlington County community of Evesham Township.  The township was seeking to condemn a strip shopping center owned by RD Management. “We represented that owner in the litigation, fighting off the condemnation, and the town and the owner then came to terms, we negotiated the settlement agreement,” he says. “I didn’t do a lot of PILOT (Payment In Lieu of Taxes) agreements in my career, but Peter Flannery does. So we’ve been able to transition the ball to Peter to work out the PILOT agreements, where my role stopped once I got the rezoning done. Now we can carry the client further through the process and not have to hand them off to someone else.”

Matt Azoulay, recently named a partner at Bisgaier Hoff law firm, Haddonfield, NJ

Azoulay handles commercial transactions, financings, leases, asset sales and the structuring of entities for developers, contractors, nonprofits and banks. He also serves as outside general counsel for businesses on matters such as formation, governance, and the purchase and sale of businesses. “ Matt’s complex real estate and corporate background gives the firm a strong transactional presence,” Hoff says. Before working at Dilworth , Azoulay was with Flaster/Greenberg in Cherry Hill and Blank Rome in Philadelphia and Cherry Hill. He knew Hoff and Bisgaier from their days at Flaster , and they stayed in touch through the years. Azoulay graduated from Widener University School of Law , with honors, and received his undergraduate degree from Syracuse University . With respect to Peter Flannery , Hoff says, “ Peter not only deepens the firm’s base with his strong land use knowledge and practice, but adds the redevelopment experience that is critical to advancing development opportunities in New Jersey.” Flannery represents developers and redevelopers on land-use approvals, redevelopment designations and ordinances; appears before agencies and land use boards; and negotiates redevelopment and development agreements. He also advises on tax exemptions and abatements, bond financing and New Jersey Economic Development Authority programs. Flannery had ties to the firm through Robert A. Kasuba , a partner, when both were at Sills . Flannery spent 11 years at Sills after graduating from Rutgers University School of Law-Newark . He also has an M.A. in city and regional planning from the Edward J. Bloustein School of Planning and Public Policy at Rutgers and a B.A., with honors, from the University of Chicago . Hoff says Flannery and Azoulay have the strengths to move the firm beyond its foundation in litigation, land use and affordable housing. That focus has served the firm well by allowing it to establish itself in the field, including the representation of developers and property owners in approximately 60 affordable housing matters currently ongoing across the state. But the firm also kept its eye on the long term. “We always knew we wanted to handle a broader range of matters, and the additions of Matt and Peter are helping us to advance that goal,” Hoff says.