Mixed-used developments are booming, but their success requires a careful balancing of interests.  What happens, for instance, when condo owners try to block a seafood restaurant from moving in downstairs because it will smell “too fishy”?  That’s an innocuous example of the many real-life obstacles that attorney Roger Winston has helped his clients hurdle.  Managing Partner of Ballard Spahr’s Bethesda office, Roger and the team have built a niche practice in the mixed-use development area; he’s currently working his magic across the region at projects such as The Village of Leesburg in Loudoun County, Parkside in Anacostia, and Rockville’s White Flint Crossing, among other regional and national sites.  Bisnow dropped in on the real estate legal eagle, who says that thinking ahead is the key to mixed-use success. 

As evidenced by the Gary-Williams-signed floor board from Cole Field House, Roger is a die-hard Terps fan and tries to go to as many games as possible.  Unfortunately, his duties as co-chair of the ABA’s Real Property, Trust and Estate Law Section often take him out of town on game days, such as his recent trips to Vancouver and Miami.  At the moment, he’s busy tidying up his office for Ballard’s one year anniversary party this week.

Roger’s expertise lies in drafting governing documents for mixed‑use developments—which begin with condominium declarations, bylaws, and plats delineating property boundaries and rights.  The blizzard of issues they address include:

• Expense allocation (do condo residents share the cost of clean up in front of that movie theater?)
• Management structure (does the health club get to vote on whether residents must have uniform mailboxes?)
• Access, easements and security (who can cross the sidewalk through that Italian restaurant’s outdoor eating space and who can use that space off season?)
• Maintenance (who maintains the roof, anyway?)
• Ownership (who owns the restaurant ventilation shaft that runs from the first floor restaurant, through the residential tower to the roof?)
• Use Restrictions (the drug store lease says no other pharmacies on the site; is that binding on the condominium association?)

When done right, Roger says, a development should provide “maximum flexibility” to its individual components.  Take Rockville Town Square, where Roger’s original plan recently allowed residential condominium developer Ross-Danac to respond to the slowdown in the condo market by conveying the remaining residential portions of the mixed-use buildings to CIM, to now be used for much needed rental purposes, without adversely impacting the retail portions of the building owned by Federal Realty or the parking garages owned by the City of Rockville.  

Keeping up with the news in Ballard Spahr’s lobby.  Instead of watching the Today Show, Roger often walks to work early from his Bethesda home, as he just had done when Bisnow caught up with him. 

Things can get messy without clear documents and fair rules—as the condo owners at the Residences at the Ritz Carlton found out when it came time to address numerous water leaks and other warranty problems at this high-end project.  The mixed-used plan for the property  includes a 100,000 square foot SportsClub/LA fitness center, a 300 room Ritz Carlton hotel, 162 luxury residences as well as ground floor retail and restaurants.  The condo association pulled Roger (and his partner, Shelah Lynn) in for a fix‑it job on the governing documents and to negotiate (without litigation) millions of dollars of remediation work necessitated by now-corrected construction defects.

“What do you prefer:  the vital mix of walkable properties in Adams Morgan and Shirlington . . . or a food court in an isolated shopping mall?”  That’s how Roger explains the exponential growth in mixed-use developments over the last five years, especially ones including condos.

After getting a B.A. and J.D. from Maryland and an L.L.M. from Georgetown, Roger initially dipped his tow into mixed-used projects at Linowes & Blocher.  That work is now over 50 percent of his practice at Ballard Spahr’s growing Bethesda office (they’ve gone from five to eleven attorneys after opening last year), where six of his colleagues pitch in substantially on the mixed-used development practice that has now grown nationally due to the depth of expertise in Ballard’s other 10 offices. (Indeed, Ballard’s newest office in Los Angeles, has a substantial international resort and mixed-use condominium practice as well.)

Roger has earned acclaim from many sources, including Chambers USA, Best Lawyers in America, SuperLawyers for DC and Maryland, The International Who’s Who in Real Estate Law, and Guide to the World’s Leading Real Estate Lawyers—not to mention top area attorneys who often refer mixed-use and condo matters to Roger, such as Jay Epstien, Fred Klein, Keith Willner, Barry Rosenthal, Kevin Shepherd and Phil Feola.

Given the exponential growth of mixed-use projects, Roger's practice could even become a family affair: His youngest daughter is studying law at the University of Chicago and his oldest daughter and her husband just bought a conversion condominium unit, just blocks from the vibrant new Silver Spring mixed-use development.