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June 24, 2024 / 2024 Power 25 Real Estate

2024 Power 25 Real Estate: Gary O’Connor

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Gary O’Connor has long been known as a go-to legal expert when it comes to brownfield redevelopment.

O’Connor is the co-chair of law firm Pullman & Comley’s real estate, energy, environmental and land-use practice. He has extensive experience in complex industrial and commercial real estate deals, particularly those impacted by environmental conditions.

Currently, he’s representing a national real estate developer — Bluewater Property Group — in the acquisition and development of a 175-acre site in Waterbury and Naugatuck, where there’s a plan to build a nearly 3 million-square-foot Amazon e-commerce distribution and fulfillment center.

He’s also representing the borough of Naugatuck in the redevelopment of more than 100 acres of brownfield sites into a mix of industrial parcels and a transit-oriented district comprising market-rate and affordable housing, commercial space and a new train station on the Metro-North Waterbury rail line.

O’Connor is also helping a major healthcare network with the acquisition and development of a brownfield site adjacent to its existing hospital campus, and a developer on the acquisition and redevelopment of an underutilized multi-tenant shopping center located in an urban area.

O’Connor said affordable housing, warehouse and midsize industrial projects remain the most active.

He’s also seen the continued adaptive reuse of former retail centers to industrial, warehousing and residential uses.

“The biggest trend continues to be the uncertainty in the market resulting from higher interest rates, tightening of available financing, especially from traditional lenders, and the rising costs of labor, construction materials and insurance premiums,” O’Connor said. “Locally, it appears that land-use boards are becoming less receptive to large projects, especially the mega-distribution facilities, although the development of warehouse and distribution facilities continues to be strong.”

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