Tara Sullivan
Partner
Overview
Tara Sullivan is an attorney in Holland & Knight's San Francisco office and a member of the West Coast Land Use and Environmental Group. Ms. Sullivan has more than 15 years of extensive land use and policy experience in urban planning, historic preservation and zoning, and her practice focuses on complex zoning matters in San Francisco, advising clients on environmental laws, including the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) and historic preservation issues.
Prior to working in the private sector, Ms. Sullivan was a legislative liaison and policy analyst at the San Francisco Planning Department, working on dozens of pieces of legislation, most notably updating San Francisco's Affordable Housing Program requirements, drafting charter language to establish the Historic Preservation Commission and amending two articles of the San Francisco Planning Code related to preservation. She also advised on legislation that strengthened the city's nuisance laws to incentivize the rehabilitation of vacant properties, enabling new eating and drinking establishments in portions of the city and rezoning projects to enable the transfer of development rights. She also served as the appeals coordinator for CEQA and Conditional Use Authorization appeals, defending cases at the Board of Supervisors.
Before joining Holland & Knight, Ms. Sullivan worked as a partner at a full-service land use law firm in San Francisco for 10 years. While there, she worked on large development projects throughout San Francisco, working on several mixed-use projects in the Central SoMa area, including 88 Bluxome Street (Tennis Club site) and 725 Harrison Street, among others. She has assisted owners and developers to create new housing and establish emerging technology businesses, as well as worked with developers to revitalize the downtown core following the COVID-19 pandemic.
Ms. Sullivan has extensive training in urban planning and historic preservation. She has evaluated projects for conformance with the U.S. Department of the Interior's Standards for the Treatment of Historic Properties and CEQA, drafted landmark designation reports and provided technical assistance on historic building materials.
Representative Experience
- Assisted in the conversion of a historic church building – designated as both an interior and exterior landmark – to an events space, overcoming significant community opposition
- Worked on the development of a 272-unit residential development utilizing the state density bonus program
- Represented a national department store retailer on a new retail concept, obtaining approvals for formula retail use, preparing community outreach plan and meeting with city officials
- Obtained approvals for a national automotive parts retailer to open two locations in San Francisco
- Worked with a developer to revitalize the ground floor of a mid-century office building, converting it from front-of-house space to high-end amenity areas, including a new basketball court, multitasking work areas and commercial bar
- Represented several high-profile individuals and families on the purchase and redevelopment of private residences, offices and amenity properties
- Represented a nationally known real estate company on the development and obtainment of approvals for a 2.6-acre lot and more than 500,000-square-foot mixed-use project featuring a 65-foot-below-grade tennis and fitness club, two office towers, a childcare center, the dedication of a recreation center and public park to the city, and the donation of an air parcel for inclusionary housing
- Represented a nationally known real estate company on the development and obtainment of approvals for a 185-foot-tall, mixed-use development with ground-floor industrial space, childcare facility, office use and the dedication of a parcel for affordable housing
- Worked with a local developer to obtain approvals for three new residential buildings located within a National Register Historic District
- Advised a national real estate company on various aspects of land use and entitlement issues for its trophy properties in San Francisco, including the Ferry Building, Rincon Center and 901 Market Street
- Worked with a national electric vehicle (EV) recharging company on due diligence, entitlements and development for its EV charging stations throughout the Bay Area, including advocating for legal interpretations of state law and interfacing with officials to facilitate quick development of the sites
Credentials
- Brooklyn Law School, J.D.
- Columbia University, M.S., Historic Preservation
- Columbia University, M.S., Urban Planning
- Skidmore College, B.A.
- California
- San Francisco Heritage, Board Member, Co-Chair, Projects & Policy Committee, 2013-2023
- San Francisco Women's Political Committee, Board Member, Endorsements Chair, 2011-2014
- Leadership San Francisco, Class of 2011
- Jack Weprin Real Estate Prize, Brooklyn Law School, 2006
- American Law Institute and American Bar Association (ALI-ABA) Environmental Law Scholarship Award, Brooklyn Law School, 2006
- William Kinne Fellows Prize, Columbia University, 2001