Practice Areas & Industries

Real Estate and Land Use

Attorneys in our Real Estate and Land Use practice group help our clients buy and sell, entitle, finance, and develop real property throughout Idaho and the region. We have experience with a wide variety of properties—from regional shopping centers, manufacturing plants, office buildings, and residential projects to nature preserves, destination resorts, and agricultural operations.

We have a long and successful track record of helping developers and landowners navigate the land use entitlement and public hearing process on issues relating to conditional use permits, planned developments, rezoning, subdivisions, comprehensive plan amendments, annexation, variances, special exceptions, development agreements, transportation and site access, impact fees, and building code compliance. Givens Pursley publishes a leading manuscript on Idaho Land Use Law.

We represent creditors and debtors in all aspects and types of commercial real estate finance transactions, including conventional, conduit, mezzanine, tax increment financing, public bonding, and other alternative finance structures. We have expertise in structuring, negotiating, documenting, and closing commercial real estate finance transactions, and creating and perfecting liens in all types of real property and other tangible and intangible property. We also render legal opinions required to document and close commercial real estate transactions. We represent developers, institutions, and other owners in the negotiation and enforcement of design and construction contracts.

We have developed extensive expertise in the niche practice area of road and public access law. Private road law issues (right-of-way easements and the like) are a staple of real estate practitioners. The law of public roads and public access, however, is a specialty combining a detailed knowledge of the current and past state of Idaho common and statutory law, application of obscure federal statutes such as R.S. 2477, and research into local history drawn from diffuse and varied sources. We represent both private landowners and governmental entities and agencies in this area.