Gregory Hummel

  1. People /

Gregory Hummel

Gregory Hummel

Senior Counsel

  1. People /

Gregory Hummel

Gregory Hummel

Senior Counsel

Gregory Hummel

Senior Counsel

Chicago

T: +1 312 602 5013

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Biography

Greg Hummel has helped clients "get to yes" in a range of complex projects and transactions over his 40-plus years of law practice. These positive outcomes often involve finding gap funding necessary to make deals feasible, identifying sources of recurring revenue to anchor a project’s development and ultimate operation, achieving regulatory relief or the necessary permits to allow projects to proceed, or driving consensus among key stakeholders to achieve critical agreements.

This deal making ability arose from Greg’s varied experience and thought leadership. For the first 20 years of his career, Greg practiced as counsel to some of the nation’s largest real estate developers and lenders, undertaking complex real estate projects and transactions. He then focused on drafting and negotiating design and construction contracts for institutional owners that revitalized their holdings or program and construction managers overseeing complex projects. In the last 20 years, Greg has acted as either underwriter’s or bond counsel for investment banks or municipalities providing infrastructure to master planned communities or undertaking brownfield redevelopment or other economic development and job creation activities.

Today, he combines this experience in a public-private partnership practice where he represents states, territories, counties and municipalities in complex redevelopment or infrastructure projects or when he acts for major companies seeking incentives for new headquarters, distribution centers, call centers, R&D facilities and the like.

His thought leadership is marked by writing and speaking on a range of timely legal and business topics including, most recently, Biden infrastructure planning and the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, the Chips Act and the Inflation Reduction Act. He has been an Urban Land Institute trustee and foundation governor since 2001. He helped found the American College of Construction Lawyers in 1989 and remains active as a speaker and writer on public private partnerships there and in the American College of Real Estate Lawyers and before the Practicing Law Institute. He has led the Chicago Central Area Committee since 2012 and is working with the City of Chicago on its Invest South + West, We Will and Central Area Planning Project slated for 2023-2024.  The learning and relationships he has gained from these and other organizations enables Greg to discern trends, influence behaviors and, in some instances, develop trends. One notable area where today he is helping to shape trends is social impact investing.

The bottom line - Greg skates to where to puck is going and keeps his eyes on the client’s goal. Clients value his ability to "get to yes" through his extensive knowledge base, strategic collaboration and creative problem solving, all designed to help them meet their needs and achieve their business objectives.

Civic Involvement & Honors

  • The Best Lawyers in America®, Real Estate Law - Chicago, 2021-Present
  • Lutheran General Hospital Governing Board - Advocate Health Care System, Former Member
  • MacMurray College - Former Trustee
  • The Presbyterian Homes - Life Trustee
  • University of Chicago - Music Department Visiting Committee, former Member
  • Chicago Symphony Orchestra - Governing Board, former Member
  • Urban Land Institute – Trustee and Key Leader
  • Urban Land Institute Foundation - Governor
  • American Red Cross 2023 Wesbury Leadership Award
  • March of Dimes 2021 Leadership in the Private Sector Award

Professional Affiliations

  • American Bar Association Section of Real Property, Probate and Trust Law - Former Council Member
  • American College of Construction Lawyers – Founder and Former President
  • American College of Real Estate Lawyers - Former Chairman, Smart Growth Task Force
  • Chicago Central Area Committee - Board of Directors; Chair
  • ChildServ and Homes for Children Foundation - Board of Directors
  • Council of Development Finance Agencies - Steering Committee, Tax Increment Financing Coalition
  • Economic Club of Chicago - Member
  • Illinois Tax Increment Financing Association - Board of Directors
  • International Bar Association - Former Co-Chair, Committee on International Construction Projects
  • Lambda Alpha, Ely Chapter - Former President

Admissions

  • Illinois, 1974

Education

Northwestern University, J.D., 1974

MacMurray College, B.A., cum laude, 1971

Experience

  • One Magnificent Mile mixed use project counsel, involving all aspects of a 58 story skyscraper including acquisition, design, construction, financing (both interim and permanent), leasing, condominiums formation and sale, all integrated via a reciprocal easement and operating declaration
  • Harold Washington Memorial Library design build counsel
  • Former Schal Associates construction management counsel on a number of Chicago projects
  • Target stores and distribution centers (in Wisconsin and Virginia) incentives counsel
  • Simon Community Centers, regional malls (Louisiana and New Mexico) and specialty retail (Forum Shoppes at Caesar’s in Las Vegas) incentives counsel
  • Prudential Towers 1 and 2 construction counsel
  • The Rookery acquisition and restoration counsel
  • Chicago Federal Reserve Bank renovation and expansion counsel
  • Joliet Arsenal Development Authority intermodal inland port redevelopment counsel
  • Sterling Riverfront redevelopment counsel
  • Whiteside County Wal-Mart distribution center project development counsel
  • Dix Park Visionaries Raleigh, NC tax increment and redevelopment counsel
  • Counsel in Alstom v. BNSF arbitration resulting in a $70M award upheld by the Federal 5th Circuit Court of Appeals
  • S. Cellular call centers (Wisconsin, Oklahoma and Tennessee) and corporate headquarters deals incentive counsel
  • Sara Lee headquarters relocation incentives counsel
  • Kraft Heinz headquarters relocation incentives counsel
  • Willis Tower retrofit and United Airlines and Willis Insurance Group tax increment financing transaction co-counsel
  • William Blair & Company underwriter’s counsel in more than twenty special district public finance transactions
  • Bond counsel in more than 20 tax exempt bond issues by Channahon, Gilberts, North Barrington, Sterling, Volo and other Illinois municipalities
  • Competitive Power Ventures incentives counsel on a 1.2MW state of the art GE gas-fired turbine project in downstate Illinois
  • S. Virgin Islands special redevelopment and project finance counsel for regional shopping center on St. Croix and several hotel deals on St. Thomas
  • Counsel to a social impact investment fund acquiring neighborhood shopping centers in US cities anchoring historic black neighborhoods and creating wealth opportunities there

Resources

Publications

  • The Ingredients of Successful U.S. Public Private Partnerships and a Path Forward for the Renewal and Expansion of U.S. Infrastructure”, Thompson-Reuters (Co-author) published Spring 2022
  • "To Push Chicago Ahead, Make It Easier to Get Around," (Co-author)
  • "The Connector-A Proposal for Grade Separated Light Rail Connecting Chicago’s Navy Pier, Commuter Rail Stations and Museum Campus and Points In Between” published by the Chicago Central Area Committee (Steering Committee Member)
  • "Elements of a Predictable Pipeline for P-3 Projects," P-3 Bulletin (Co-author)
  • "Chicago Central Area Decarbonization Plan," (Contributing Author)
  • "Tax Increment Finance Best Practices Reference Guide," Community Development Authorities publication (Contributing Author)
  • "Illinois Real Estate Forms - Practice," (Co-author)
  • "Negotiating Design, Construction, Financing and Leasing Issues in Mixed Use Real Estate Developments," (Contributing Author/Editor)
  • "The Real Estate Development Process - Drafting and Negotiating Techniques," (Contributing Author/Editor)

Speaking Engagements

  • "The Ingredients of Successful U. S. Public Private Partnerships and Fifteen Representative Case Studies” presented to the Practicing Law Institute in May, 2021 and July 2022 and the American College of Real Estate Lawyers in August and October, 2022
  • "Public Private Partnerships – The Social Infrastructure Opportunity," American College of Real Estate Lawyers, March 28, 2014
  • "Chicago’s Transformation into a Revitalized International Metropolis," Offices of the Mayor of Chicago and Governor of Pudong, Shanghai, China, April 22, 2011
  • "Term Sheets and Redevelopment Agreements," Council of Development Finance Agencies Webinar,  April 4, 2011
  • "Clusters – A Powerful Economic Development Strategy," Keynote Address, Spring 2011 Illinois Tax Increment Association Meeting, April 7, 2011, Normal, Ill.
  • "Infrastructure Game-Changers," Chicago Metropolitan Planning Agency, March 9, 2011, Chicago, Ill.
  • "Infrastructure Game-Changers," Urban Land Institute Fall 2010 Meeting, Oct. 12, 2010, Washington, D.C.
  • "Energy Financing Districts," Council of Development Finance Agencies, Sept. 16, 2010, Washington, D.C.
  • "Tax Increment Financing – The American Experience," July 26, 2010, Sydney, Australia, given to Urban Development in Australia NSW Leadership, New South Wales Treasury and Planning Departments, and The U.S. Studies Center at the University of Sydney
  • "Tax Increment Financing – the American Experience," Thought Leadership Master Class on the Potential Use of TIF in New Zealand, July 21-24, 2010, Wellington, New Zealand
  • "Tax Increment Financing – The American Experience," Forum on Cross River Rail Project hosted by Clayton Utz, July 19, 2010, Brisbane, Queensland, Australia
  • "Tax Increment Financing – The American Experience," July 15, 2010, Honolulu, Hawaii
  • "Understanding Your TIF Statute" and "Tax Increment Financing Case Studies: The American Experience," given at The Advanced TIF Course, Community Development Finance Agencies, Nov. 19, 2009, Washington, D.C.
  • "The Gap Analysis and The Art of the Deal," Illinois Tax Increment Association Fall meeting, Sept. 25, 2009, Chicago, Ill.
  • "Creative Approaches to Infrastructure: The Chicago and London Stories," 2008 Urban Land Institute Fall Meeting and Urban Land Expo, Oct. 29, 2008
  • "Whiteside County, Illinois: A Quadra-Modal Opportunity for an Inland Port," Sept. 21, 2007

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