Matthew N. McClure

• Represented Major League Baseball franchise in obtaining administrative approvals for certain spectator experience upgrades for Citizens Bank Park
• Represented land conservancy in obtaining (and defending) land use approvals for a 1,500-acre land preservation effort spread across multiple Chester County municipalities, including defeating six statutory appeals thereof
• Represented developer in obtaining legislative and administrative approvals for an 800,000-square-foot mixed-use project with 480 dwelling units, three levels of structured parking, and 80,000 square feet of retail in the West Poplar section of North Philadelphia
• Represented national hotel company in obtaining Philadelphia Historical Commission approval for a controversial modification of the region’s most iconic and historically-important building identification sign
• Represented national developer with obtaining land use entitlements, related state permits and easement rights from adjacent parcels for the construction of a 300,000-square-foot regional distribution and processing facility occupied by a national ground express carrier
• Represented developer in obtaining significant use and dimensional zoning variance relief for a 132-unit mixed use project in the Spruce Hill section of Philadelphia
• Represented entity formed by the City of Philadelphia and the Borough of Yeadon in successfully petitioning the Pennsylvania Attorney General and the Philadelphia Court of Common Pleas to place one of the nation’s most historically-important (albeit distressed) cemeteries into receivership
• Represented national hotel company in the development of a 140-room limited stay hotel in close proximity to the Pennsylvania Convention Center. Obtained approval to demolish much of a two-story historically-designated building to permit a 12-story addition, along with gross floor area zoning variances necessary to achieve the room count
• Represented movie theater developer with successfully obtaining high profile demolition and zoning approvals for Center City Philadelphia’s last surviving movie palace including assembling the expert witness team, coordinating media strategy, obtaining legislative zoning code text amendments and disposing of third party appeals in a timely manner
• Represented university health system obtain zoning variances and related approvals for an approximately 400-space structured parking garage abutting an existing medical center
• Represented national low income housing developer in obtaining land use approvals for the second LGBTQ-friendly senior housing facility in the nation
• Represented regional office building owner with obtaining a significant real estate tax assessment reduction for a 500,000-square-foot Center City office building
• Represented national university in acquiring 600-plus acres of land in various stages of improvements, including coordinating due diligence activities and closing the transaction
• Represented regional developer in the acquisition, development and leasing of the largest development parcel in the exclusive Chestnut Hill section of Philadelphia for a 100,000-square-foot mixed-use project including obtaining controversial zoning map and code text amendments and successfully defending third-party legal challenges
• Represented nation’s largest food-service distributor with the construction of a 200,000-square-foot addition to and redevelopment of an existing 200,000-square-foot Philadelphia regional distribution facility including obtaining all land use entitlements, building code relief and property rights from neighboring parcels
• Represented Ivy League university in acquisition and mixed use development of 30-plus acres abutting Center City Philadelphia from the U.S. Postal Service including coordinating a massive due diligence effort, negotiating the agreement of sale, imposition of various development and post-development rights, disposition of various components to a third party developer, and acquiring land and easement rights under railroad highline to enable the construction of an urban park
• Represented regional university in acquisition of neighboring private secondary school campus including initial and subsequent land use approvals for the conversion to university use

Appellate Decisions

• Woodland Terrace Homeowners' Association v. Philadelphia Board of License and Inspection Review, No. 801 C.D. 2014 (Pa. Cmwlth Ct. Apr. 22, 2015) (on a case of first impression upholding the Philadelphia Historical Commission’s decision to permit the demolition of a historically-designated building complex under the financial hardship provisions of Philadelphia’s historic preservation ordinance)
• Piper Group, Inc. v. Bedminster Township, 30 A.3d 1083 (Pa. 2011) (upholding a township's agricultural soils ordinance and reconciling the Pennsylvania Municipalities Planning Code's procedures for fashioning site specific relief with the Court's broad principles set forth in the landmark Casey v. Warwick Township Zoning Hearing Board decision)
• Turchi v. Philadelphia Board of License and Inspection Review, 20 A.3d 586 (Pa. Cmwlth. 2011) (seminal opinion upholding the Philadelphia Historical Commission's decision approving a 16-story addition to former Mayor Richardson Dilworth's home and confirming that the Commission's decisions are entitled to deference even in a de novo appeal to the Philadelphia Board of License and Inspection Review)
• Arter v. Philadelphia Zoning Board of Adjustment, 916 A.2d 1222 (Pa. Cmwlth. 2007) (holding that the construction of a funeral home and crematorium is not permitted as either an accessory use or a modernization of a legally non-conforming cemetery use)
• Berger & Montague, P.C. v. Philadelphia Historical Commission, 898 A.2d 1 (Pa. Cmwlth. 2006) (upholding the Philadelphia Historical Commission's decision approving a mid-rise residential condominium project in a local historic district and holding that a direct appeal of a Historical Commission decision to the Court of Common Pleas pursuant to the Pennsylvania Local Agency Law must be filed within 30 calendar days of the decision, regardless of appellant's knowledge of such decision)
• One Meridian Partners, LLP v. Philadelphia Zoning Board of Adjustment, 867 A.2d 706 (Pa. Cmwlth. 2005) (reversed the Philadelphia Zoning Board of Adjustment's massive variance of gross floor area requirements on the basis that certain dimensional relief is beyond the statutory authority of a zoning board)
• SCRUB v. Keystone Outdoor Advertising, No. 131 C.D. 2001 (Pa. Cmwlth Ct. Mar.15, 2002) (sustained use variances for eight non-accessory advertising signs on public property)