Bio

Patrick Mcauley is a partner in the firm’s Real Estate and Land Use and Commercial Litigation practice groups. During his 30 year legal career, he has provided counsel in connection with a substantial range of issues arising out of the acquisition and sale of properties, municipal land use law (including applications for zoning, planning, and building permit approvals, as well as appeals from notices of violations thereof), creation of redevelopment areas, the use of eminent domain or condemnation, relocation assistance, and environmental regulatory issues. He has assisted in obtaining subdivision, site plan, and related permits and approvals for projects of nearly every size and character, including retail and office spaces, hotels, a baseball stadium, an aquarium, housing projects, and others in various counties throughout New Jersey. He has served as either general counsel or special counsel to the New Jersey Casino Reinvestment Development Authority (CRDA) since 1995. In connection with representation of the CRDA, among other things, Mr. McAuley has overseen the use of eminent domain proceedings to acquire several hundred sites not only for infrastructure improvements but also for various types of commercial, industrial, residential, and recreational facilities. Mr. McAuley also has negotiated a variety of financing structures and drafted related instruments in connection with the development or redevelopment of properties. He represented Enron in connection with the sale of its assets in New Jersey during its bankruptcy and negotiated and drafted complex agreements with New Jersey Transit and the New Jersey Turnpike Authority relating to developments within the air rights at the Frank Lautenberg Rail Station in Secaucus. Mr. McAuley recently negotiated agreements for the financing and development of two major roadway and related infrastructure projects in Atlantic City, one with an estimated $58 million project budget and the other with an estimated $10 million project budget. Both involve multiple funding sources and a unique combination of public sector commitments with private sector commitments in terms of both the financing and construction of the developments. Mr. McAuley also has litigated prerogative writ actions on behalf of potential developers in connection with challenges to various zoning and related ordinances. Mr. McAuley also has spent a significant part of his practice assisting owners and installers of solar systems in connection with PV facilities, primarily on rooftops, in more than thirty locations throughout New Jersey, involving projects generally ranging from 30 kW to 5 MW in size including, but not limited to, project contract agreements, such as site leases, power purchase agreements and EPCs. Prior to joining Connell Foley in 1982, Mr. McAuley began his legal career as a law clerk to Chief Justice Richard J. Hughes of the Supreme Court of New Jersey. He also clerked for the Honorable George P. Helfrich, the Superior Court of New Jersey Law Division.