Wesley O'Brien

Wesley O’Brien advises on zoning, land use, and environmental review for transformative development projects in New York City.

Wesley’s clients include leading real estate owners and developers such as Brookfield Properties, Extell Development, the Durst Organization, and Boston Properties. He also counsels major institutions such as the Hospital for Special Surgery, non-profits such as the Trust for Governors Island, and cultural institutions such as the Whitney Museum. Financial institutions, including Goldman Sachs and JPMorgan Chase, also frequently seek Wesley’s advice in the zoning diligence for large-scale real estate project loans.

Legal 500 recognizes Wesley as a “Rising Star” in Real Estate: Land Use and Zoning.

Before joining Fried Frank, Wesley was general counsel of the NYC Mayor’s Office of Environmental Coordination and served as assistant counsel to the NYC Department of City Planning. He was also an adjunct assistant professor at the New York University Wagner School of Public Service, where he taught a class on land use law.

A recognized voice in the field, Wesley is a frequent lecturer at Cardozo School of Law, Brooklyn Law School, and the American Planning Association’s New York Metro Chapter.

Work Highlights

• A joint venture led by Brookfield Properties and Silverstein Properties to develop 5 World Trade Center as a 1.6 million-square-foot mixed use, predominately residential tower.
   
• Alloy Development in the zoning, environmental review, and other approvals for its approximately one million-square-foot development, in partnership with the New York City Educational Construction Fund at 80 Flatbush Avenue in Downtown Brooklyn.
   
• The Durst Organization in the development of the 2.4 million-square-foot Halletts Point project located on the waterfront of Astoria, Queens.
   
• A joint venture led by Vornado Realty Trust and Related Companies in the development of the approximately $2 billion Moynihan Station project.
   
• Hospital for Special Surgery in a series of land use approvals for expansions of the Hospital's Upper East Side campus located at East 71st and York in New York City.
   
• SL Green Realty Corp. in the rezoning and other approvals for the development of One Vanderbilt, an iconic 1,401-foot tall, 1.7 million-square-foot office tower located on the block to the west of Grand Central Terminal.
   
• CIM Group, Starrett Development and L+M Development Partners to facilitate a large-scale residential development of up to 2.5 million-square-feet in the Two Bridges neighborhood of Lower Manhattan.