Todd A. LaSala

Experience

Todd led the firm’s representation of the Unified Government of Wyandotte County/Kansas City, Kansas in its development of Village West, the retail and entertainment district adjacent to the Kansas Speedway. He helped negotiate and close transactions to bring Cabela’s and Nebraska Furniture Mart to Kansas City, and he helped the Unified Government in its development of the Legends shopping center, a baseball stadium for the Kansas City T-Bones minor league franchise, and other projects at Village West.

Todd has worked on most of the public-private partnership development projects in the City of Overland Park, Kansas. He was the firm's lead attorney representing the City in the development of retail projects like Prairiefire, Corbin Park, the development of mixed-use projects like Bluhawk and City Place and the development of multi-family projects in downtown Overland Park, including Avenue 80, Interurban Lofts and the Vue, just to name a few.

He served as lead counsel to the Unified Government and the Board of Public Utilities in their efforts to be selected by Google from more than 1,100 other municipal applicants to become the first city in the United States to have “Google Fiber” – a fiber network providing internet connections of 1 gigabit per second to businesses, schools and other locations. Todd led the negotiating team and successfully completed a first-of-its-kind development agreement with Google. He subsequently represented no less than six other cities in crafting similar agreements with Google to provide "Google Fiber" to their citizens.

Todd represented the Unified Government in the development of a new $165 million Major League Soccer stadium for the Sporting Kansas City franchise and the development of a 600,000 square foot office campus for Cerner Corporation. He subsequently worked with the Unified Government, Sporting KC and the U.S. Soccer Federation to bring Pinnacle and the National Training Center to Kansas City, Kansas. This new $62 million, world-class soccer coaching and training village provides seasonal training facilities to the U.S. men's and women's national soccer teams and other Olympic sporting activities and a tournament fields complex for children of all ages and skill levels.

He was the co-author of the State of Illinois' STAR Bond Financing Act, which was signed into law by Governor Pat Quinn in 2010.

Todd has helped many of the firm’s clients in the drafting and negotiation of their retail, office and industrial leases. He represented the owner of the largest office park in Kansas and helped lease approximately 2,500,000 square feet of its office space. Todd also serves as counsel to major corporations who lease retail and office space as tenants nationwide.

He worked on the first tax increment financing (TIF) project that was ever awarded to a developer in the City of Overland Park, Kansas. He represented Tri-Land Properties, the developer of Cherokee South Shopping Center, which was granted unanimous approval of its TIF in 2008 by the Overland Park City Council.

Todd was selected to membership in the American College of Real Estate Lawyers in 2014. He was listed in the 2006-2015 editions of Chambers USA Guide: America’s Leading Lawyers for Business for Real Estate and is a Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design Accredited Professional (LEED AP), recognized by the U.S. Green Building Council.

News

Speaking Engagements

Publications

“You Want What? – Three Development Agreement Provisions That Are Very Important to Municipalities, But Are Always Hotly Negotiated,” International Municipal Lawyers Association, September 2008

“STAR Destinations: Kansas Legislature Renews Legislation That Allows for Projects Shaping the Market,” Midwest Real Estate News, June 2007

“Tenancy-in-Common Ownership for 1031 Exchanges – The Risks with TICs,” Probate and Property, January/February 2007

“Chapter 6: Deeds,” Volume 1, Missouri Practice: Methods of Practice Transaction Guide, 4th Ed., 272,2001

“Chapter 8: Drafting Deeds of Trust,” Volume 1, Missouri Practice: Methods of Practice Transaction Guide, 4th Ed., 272, 2001

“The Decisive Blow to the Double Jeopardy Defense in Kansas Drunk Driving Prosecutions: State v. Mertz,” 44 Kansas Law Review 1009, 1996.  Recommended as “worth reading” by The National Law Journal, January 6, 1997