Practice Areas
Real Estate Transaction and Land Use
Litigation / Dispute Resolution
Jesse’s legal practice focuses on Massachusetts real estate development, land use, and zoning/permitting. He primarily represents developers, entrepreneurs, and landowners in the context of residential and commercial land use permitting, development, and construction.
Jesse’s primary specialization is the permitting and development of affordable housing under Chapter 40B of the Massachusetts General Laws. In this field, he is one of a handful of go-to attorneys in the Commonwealth with the expert knowledge, experience, and know-how to guide a 40B development from concept to shovels in the ground, and his recent development portfolio includes permitting of projects valued at over $500 million.
In addition to Chapter 40B permitting and development, Jesse’s practice includes the following:
- Zoning/Permitting under Mass. General Laws Ch. 40A and the Boston Zoning Code (variances, special permits, findings, etc.)
- M.G.L. Ch. 40R Smart Growth plan approval and zoning district permitting
- Site Plan Review permitting
- Subdivision Control and Approval-Not-Required (ANR) permitting
- Environmental permitting (wetlands protection, public waterways, septic/sewer, etc.)
- Real estate/land use litigation (title, easements, adverse possession, etc.)
- Registered Land matters, S-Cases, & land deregistration
- Age-restricted housing development
- Zoning amendments
- Historical protection permitting
- Municipal licensing/regulation, including alcohol & automotive
- Private Client Services (real estate conveyancing, land use and development agreements, corporate structuring, condominium matters, development team formation, etc.)
Jesse is the Co-Chair of the Affordable Housing Section of the Real Estate Bar Association for Massachusetts (REBA), a contributing commentator for the Massachusetts Housing Appeals Committee Reporter (MHACR). He is also Special Town Counsel to the Town of Saugus, MA for development and permitting.
In addition to his permitting practice, Jesse is an experienced real estate litigator specializing in zoning/permitting appeals, land use rights and title disputes, adverse possession, historical rights of way, and Registered Land matters.
Professional Associations
- Real Estate Bar Association for Massachusetts (REBA)
- Boston Bar Association
- Citizens’ Housing and Planning Association (CHAPA)
- Commentator for Landlaw’s Massachusetts Housing Appeals Committee Reporter (MHACR)
Recent Successes
- Obtained approval for a 173-unit rental development in Wakefield
- Obtained approval for an 86-unit mixed rental/ownership development in Reading
- Obtained approval for an 86-unit rental adaptive reuse development in Milton and negotiated the settlement and dismissal of an abutter appeal and related environmental lawsuit
- Obtained approval for a 116-unit rental development in Milton
- Obtained approval for a 12-unit rental development in Belmont
- Obtained ZBA and Conservation Commission approval for a 36-unit rental development in Wakefield
- Obtained approval for a 20-unit rental development in Milton
- Obtained ZBA and Conservation Commission approval for a 16-unit rental development in Milton
- Obtained approval for building, site, and signage upgrades for a major automotive dealership group
- Successfully mediated the denial of a 54-unit Chapter 40B development in Peabody, resulting in the issuance of a Comprehensive Permit
- Obtained approval of variances and site plan approval to develop various site amenities/upgrades for a biomedical campus in Danvers
- Obtained approval of variances authorizing site upgrades to a nonconforming gas station and repair shop in a residential district in Cambridge
- Obtained judgment overturning the denial by the local ZBA of a special permit to develop a 23-unit apartment development in Lynnfield
- Obtained judgment dismissing an abutter’s appeal of Chapter 40B development in Reading
- Obtained judgment awarding title by adverse possession to a derelict fee in South Boston and adjudging a Colonial-era road to be abandoned/defunct
- Obtained judgment that the constructive endorsement of an ANR plan required adding the applicable access way to the Town of Georgetown’s Official Town Map
- Successfully defended at MassDEP’s Office of Appeals and Dispute Resolution (OADR) the issuance of an Order of Conditions for a pier in Nahant
Bar Admissions
Massachusetts
New Jersey
New York
United States District Court, District of Massachusetts
United States District Court, Southern District of New York
United States District Court, Eastern District of New York
United States District Court, District of New Jersey
Education
University of Notre Dame – J.D. (cum laude)
Graduate Center, City University of New York – M.Phil. (magna cum laude)
Hendrix College – B.A. (with distinction)
