Karl Baker

Transactions

• Represented landlords and tenants in the negotiation of retail, industrial, and office leases.
• Represented a wide range of clients in acquisitions and dispositions of improved and unimproved land.
• Represented privately held investment trust in note purchase and foreclosure of raw land.
• Represented financial institution in the assemblage of urban real estate parcels for a development of new headquarters.
• Represented regional supermarket chain in the acquisition, development, leasing, and sale of numerous grocery stores and grocery-anchored shopping centers throughout Texas.
• Represented national real estate investor in acquiring and developing multimillion-dollar build-to-suit industrial facilities.
• Represented multi-family developers in the acquisition and development of infill development sites.
• Represented international corporation in the development of a multimillion-dollar manufacturing facility.
• Represented solar investment and development company in the implementation of a community solar rooftop program.

Public Private Partnerships

• Advised urban development company on the formation of a complex public-private partnership involving the exchange of multiple downtown land parcels and the development of a high-rise office building, a new municipal headquarters, and associated residential and retail developments.
• Advised local government corporation tasked with the redevelopment of a high-profile parcel of public land on a broad range of issues including the application of state laws governing the sale and leasing of public property; the application of state laws governing the procurement of contracts; the application of the Open Meetings Act and the Open Records Act; and the negotiation of short-term and long-term leases of public land.
• Represented nonprofit media organization in formation of public-private partnership to redevelop an historic asset to serve as its corporate headquarters and as a performing arts center.
• Represented local government corporation in a long-term sublease to a private developer relating to the development of a multi-family apartment complex including ground floor retail and workforce housing requirements.
• Represented private landowner in the donation of land to a local government for the creation of a historic site adjacent to new development.

Entitlements and Incentives

• Represented landowners seeking city and county tax abatements and Chapter 380 agreements.
• Represented property owners challenging rough proportionality determinations.
• Represented property owners in obtaining vested rights determinations.
• Represented developer in the negotiation of annexation agreements and infrastructure reimbursement agreements.
• Represented regional supermarket chain on matters such as securing zoning, platting and other development approvals; negotiating economic incentive agreements; obtaining right-of-way closures; and acquiring publicly owned property.
• Represented national real estate investor in obtaining incentives for multimillion dollar industrial facilities in California, Florida, Kansas, Missouri, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, and Virginia.
• Represented mixed-use developer in securing licenses and approvals necessary for constructing bridge over San Antonio River.
• Advised city on the development and implementation of a Tax Incremental Reinvestment Zone.
• Represented landowner in the negotiation of agreements with a county concerning the design and construction of a major commercial thoroughfare.
• Represented landowner in the successful appeal of a denial of an inverse condemnation claim against a state department of transportation arising out of the closure of a highway interchange.

• The Best Lawyers in America (Woodward/White Inc.), Real Estate Law, 2019-2023

• “Commentary: San Antonio-Austin Megaregion Isn’t Just Down the Road,” Rivard Report (September 2, 2016)
• “Income Tax Implications for Homeowners of a Declining Real Estate Market,” Massachusetts Bar Association Lawyer’s Journal (April 2009)
• Co-authored “Governor Patrick Signs Legislation to Exempt Landlocked Tidelands from Chapter 91 Licensing,” New England Chapter of the Congress for the New Urbanism (Winter 2007)
• Co-authored “Indelible Public Interests in Property: The Public Trust and the Public Forum,” 32 B.C. Envtl. Aff. L. Rev. 275 (2005)
• Co-authored “Homeland Security and Premises Liability,” ALI-ABA Land Use Institute (August 27, 2004)

• Alamo Heights Architectural Review Board
• Urban Land Institute – Management Committee, Chair of Local Member Councils
• Leadership San Antonio Class 44
• Texas Bar Foundation, Fellow
• Real Estate Council of San Antonio
• Leadership Development Program of the Real Estate Council of San Antonio