Daniel Deegan, Forchelli, Curto, Deegan, Schwartz, Mineo & Terrana

Uniondale, NY The New York Real Estate Journal recently sat down with their Executive of the Month, Daniel Deegan, head of the industrial development agency, municipal incentives and government relations practice at Forchelli, Curto, Deegan, Schwartz, Mineo & Terrana, LLP.

Forchelli, Curto, Deegan, Schwartz, Mineo & Terrana, one of Long Island’s leading full service law firms, has always enjoyed a solid reputation for successfully representing clients in all real estate development matters and transactions. The firm’s real estate department provides comprehensive, innovative, and practical legal services for life-cycle real estate needs on a local, regional and national basis. The real estate department integrates many of the firm’s other practice areas such as environmental, tax certiorari, land use and zoning, construction law, corporate/commercial, banking & finance and litigation to provide our clients with a total comprehensive real estate focus. As the firm celebrates 40 years – one thing remains constant – its focus on obtaining outstanding results for clients.

Q: What would you consider the most overlooked opportunity in real estate right now?

A: Properties near railroad stations on Long Island have historically been under-developed and in many cases have become blighted over the last several decades; however, municipalities are now more receptive than ever to transit-oriented development, (TODs), especially in or adjacent to existing downtowns. This is a tremendous opportunity.

People judge communities by their downtowns. A railroad station, and historic downtown infrastructure and streetscapes, are assets that can be infused with vibrancy and economic activity. By adding multi-family and mixed use developments to downtowns, which take advantage of these infrastructure assets, it makes the community as a whole a better place to live in. This increases the property values of single family homes in the surrounding neighborhoods without changing the character of those neighborhoods. 

The real estate development community on Long Island should be focusing even more attention on these types of properties, around train stations and downtowns, as there are still many opportunities to develop properties in those locations. This firm’s real estate development practice has been actively involved is these types of developments across Long Island, assisting with zoning, transactional and financing legal services and obtaining financial assistance from the various Town and County Industrial Development Agencies (IDAs) that are actively looking to boost this type of development.

Shown (from left) are: Anthony Bartone and Dan Deegan
at the Cornerstone groundbreaking.

Q: What professional organizations are you involved with?

A: I was recently elected to the board of the Long Island Association. I also serve on the board of the New York League of Conservation Voters (NYLCV). I am an associate member of the Commercial Industrial Brokers Society of Long Island (CIBS), Long Island Real Estate Group (LIREG), Long Island Builders Institute (LIBI) and the Long Island Business Development Council (LIBDC).

Q: Tell me about your top recent transactions (projects).

A: I am proud to have assisted with the Cornerstone in Farmingdale, a multifamily project at the Farmingdale railroad station, which is currently under construction and was awarded a Long Island Business News award as a TOD smart growth project. We have also been heavily involved in representing Renaissance Downtowns/RXR Realty’s efforts to redevelop the Village of Hempstead’s downtown around its rail road station and bus terminal, a project that represents a much needed economic boost projected to be in excess of $2 billion. It contemplates 3,500 units of new housing and 2 million s/f of commercial development. Most importantly it will provide employment opportunities to village residents that are mandated by the new form based zoning code adopted by the village. It has been lauded by numerous smart growth and planning organizations as well as local, state and federal levels of government. On a different note, we recently assisted in the development of the new Dealertrack headquarters project currently under construction in North Hills. Dealertrack is a software company that will have 700+ high paying jobs at the facility, hundreds of which are “net new” jobs to Long Island. The project, with a construction cost in excess of $100 million, is a LEED certified new construction office building development. We assisted with the zoning approvals and the garnering of financial assistance from the Nassau County Industrial Development Agency process. It is a project of regional significance that will add tremendous value to Long Island’s economy.

Deegan’s Background

Deegan received his J.D. from St. John’s University School of Law, 1989. He heads up the firm’s industrial development agency (IDA), municipal incentives and government relations practices, with particular emphasis on facilitating and implementing responsible real estate development projects. He specializes in real estate development law, zoning law, municipal incentives/IDA law, and government relations/municipal law. He is experienced in representing companies before the IDAs in Nassau and Suffolk Counties. Dan has a reputation for “getting things done” with efficiency, effectiveness and integrity.

Rendering of the new Dealertrack headquarters - North Hills, NY

Deegan has been awarded an “AV” legal ability and ethics rating by Martindale-Hubbell Law Directory – the very highest rating this nationally recognized publication has established. This rating is based upon extensive confidential peer review surveys. He was selected by his peers for inclusion in New York’s Super Lawyers every year since 2010 He was also peer selected in LI Pulse Magazine as a “Top Legal Eagle” for being the “most unbeatable” in real estate.

Deegan is admitted to practice in New York and New Jersey. In addition, he is admitted to practice before the Federal Courts of both New York and New Jersey, including the United States Supreme Court. He is a member of the American Bar Association and the New York State Bar Association. In the mid-1990’s, Dan was appointed City Attorney for the City of Glen Cove, by then-mayor Thomas Suozzi, and served in that capacity through 2006.

Deegan was elected to the board of the Long Island Association in 2015. He has served as president of the Glen Cove Rotary, and member, board of directors for the Gift of Life Foundation and, currently, North Shore Sheltering Program, Inc., a shelter for the homeless. He is also a member of the Commercial Industrial Brokers Society of Long Island (CIBS) and was recognized as the “Associate Member of the Year.”

He is a frequent lecturer to trade groups and others on the law and practice relating to economic development incentives and industrial development agencies. He has published articles on the Benefits of IDAs in the New York Real Estate Journal and the Suffolk Lawyer, among others. He earned his B.A. from Providence College in 1986 and graduated Chaminade High School in 1983.