Joseph E. Coomes, Jr. represents public agencies and major developers in complex land use matters and negotiation of development agreements. Of counsel in the Municipal Law practice group of Best Best & Krieger LLP, Joe’s practice concentrates on land use and planning law, including downtown development and military base closure and reuse. He has pioneered the successful market-based use of redevelopment in California and other states, and is credited with creating the development and financing model, among other innovations, that enables major retailers to return to downtowns they once abandoned for the suburbs.
 
Joe has successfully negotiated some of the largest and most difficult urban mixed-use redevelopment projects in California, including San Francisco’s Yerba Buena Gardens and downtown San Jose’s Silicon Valley Financial Center.
 
In l997, Joe represented the owners of Arco Arena and the Sacramento Kings NBA team in a successful public refinancing of the private debt on the arena and the team which enabled the Kings to remain in Sacramento. He also helped negotiate and structure a tax-exempt financing of a downtown convention center hotel in Sacramento.
 
In the area of military base closures and reuse, Joe negotiated the first early transfer in California of contaminated military base lands to private developers for environmental remediation paid for by a combination of federal funding and environmental insurance at Mare Island in the City of Vallejo. Joe represented the City of Novato and its redevelopment agency in the successful residential redevelopment of Hamilton Field in Marin County. He also worked on reuse planning for Treasure Island in San Francisco and Castle Air Force Base in Merced. In addition, he negotiated on behalf of private developers the two largest redevelopment projects at Fort Ord in the City of Marina and the County of Monterey.
 
Prior to joining the firm in 2010, he was of counsel with McDonough Holland & Allen in Sacramento. Joe is a frequent lecturer before state, national and international organizations on the subjects of urban development and land use planning. By invitation, he has spoken and conferred in London, Tokyo and Beijing on urban development issues. He spent a four-month semester teaching a graduate course on redevelopment and planning law at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology during a sabbatical from the firm. 
 
Education

• University of California, Berkeley Law School, LL.B.
• University of California, Berkeley, A.B.

Admissions

• California

Awards

• The Best Lawyers in America®, Land Use and Zoning Law & Municipal Law, 2007-2021
• The Best Lawyers in America® Lawyer of the Year, Land Use & Zoning, 2016-2018
• Sacramento Magazine Top Lawyers, Land Use/Zoning, 2015
• Lifetime Visionary Honor Award (named for Joe) from Urban Land Institute District Council, Sacramento, 2013
• Exemplary Leader Award from the American Leadership Forum-Mountain Valley Chapter, 2013
• Lifetime Achievement Award from the California Redevelopment Association, 2008
• Samuel J. Cullers Outstanding Achievement Award from Lambda Alpha International’s Sacramento Chapter, 2007
• Fame Award from Commercial Real Estate Women, 2000
• Lawyer of the Year by the Sacramento County Bar Association, 1996
• Sacramentan of the Year by the Sacramento Metropolitan Chamber of Commerce, 1990
• Distinguished Counsel Award from the Housing and Development Law Institute, 1987