Project and Infrastructure Development
On complex projects, every day impacts returns. As developers eye the Gulf South for new facilities and infrastructure, we help clients move quickly and strategically. We manage risk and clear roadblocks to get projects online and operational.
Related Professionals
The Gulf South is one of the most active and diverse development markets, and demand continues to drive activity. Across the region, we integrate site control, regulatory approvals, and construction management to support bankable projects that are commercially operational.
Speed to Operation Without Cutting Corners
We help clients at the earliest stages of project development assess site viability, balancing community sentiment, political dynamics, permitting risk and stakeholder concerns. We compare locations through a practical risk lens to help clients prioritize sites that are not only economically attractive, but also likely to gain approvals and move forward smoothly.
We understand the heavy carrying costs that come with complex developments. After working on some of the region’s biggest projects, we’ve seen the full range of issues that could slow down a deal. We map out fast, practical fixes to keep projects on deadline without risking incentive value or financing.
From Project Authorization to Operation
Our services for large-scale projects include working on:
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- Real estate leases, easements, servitudes and rights of way
- Local, state and federal permitting
- Project finance and incentives
- Government and community affairs
- Utility, infrastructure and interconnection corridors
- Interconnection and service agreements
- Engineering, procurement and construction management
- Operation, maintenance and facility service agreements
In both full‑scope and phase‑specific roles, our experience helps developers make decisions that hold up as projects progress.
Local Counsel That Keeps Projects Moving
Phelps brings the local credibility and connections that move projects forward. Coordination with state and local agencies helps avoid permitting and approval delays and navigate state‑specific complexities. Our on‑the‑ground ties with community leaders build public buy‑in and address community concerns early. We help clients manage risk, capture incentives and keep projects financeable by bridging local considerations with national standards, so projects reach operation on schedule and guard against future disputes.
We often lead developments as local counsel for Gulf South projects involving:
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- Advanced manufacturing and industrial campuses
- Data centers, including hyperscale facilities
- Coal, gas and cogeneration facilities
- Mixed-use, innovation district and large-scale civic developments
- Pipelines and liquefied natural gas facilities
- Ports, rail, airports and other public infrastructure and logistics hubs
- Refineries and petrochemical complexes
- Solar, wind, biomass and other clean energy projects
This experience helps us bring first-in-state and first-of-their-kind projects online and add predictability to campus-scale developments that extend beyond four walls.
Services
- Antitrust
- Construction and project commissioning
- Contracts
- Development agreements
- Environmental impact evaluations and permitting
- Labor and employment
- Governmental affairs and policy strategy
- Maritime issues
- Mergers and acquisitions
- Off-take and transportation agreements
- Onshore and offshore lease permitting and applications
- Onshore and offshore real estate acquisition and leasing
- Opinion letters
- Project finance
- Public approval and community relations
- Real estate
- Risk management
- Tax structuring, due diligence and incentives
- Title issues
- Utility regulatory compliance
Experience
Local Counsel
- Advanced global explosives manufacturer’s $850 million Louisiana ammonia plant development, one of the first onshore ammonia plants built in the United States in 20 years, counseling on real estate, environmental and permitting issues, EPC contracts, tax matters, economic incentives and labor negotiations.
- Completed extensive property due diligence on six-week deadline for 12,000 miles of pipeline in Louisiana and Mississippi to close $1.2 billion asset sale for natural gas distributor, including analyzing servitudes, fee acquisitions, leasehold rights, governmental permits and franchise agreements.
- Counseled a global chemical manufacturer on $2 billion acquisition and joint venture formation involving Gulf Coast petrochemical assets, helping the client expand production capacity and establish an operational manufacturing platform while navigating complex environmental and permitting requirements.
- Advised on LNG export terminal development in Hackberry, Louisiana, counseling on EPC contracts and related business, construction and tax issues in a nationally recognized project finance deal.
Lead Counsel
- Guiding technology company’s $27 billion data center development in Louisiana, leading real estate deals, environmental permitting, tax and incentives, construction and coordination with authorities for a project expected to rank among the world’s largest data centers.
- Advised the world's leading railcar lessor on construction and project development agreements to renovate and expand its Hearne, Texas, facility, including upgrades to operational and maintenance infrastructure.
- Led development of a $750 million, 700-megawatt natural gas generating station in Iberville Parish, Louisiana, for a major energy company through site acquisition and related property interests, credit facility and financing negotiation, and environmental and governmental matters.
- Advanced $1.8 billion container terminal build for a major Gulf Coast port, representing the client before state and parish regulators on industrial permitting and zoning matters and in related litigation.
- Steered manufacturer’s $198.5 million carbon capture project at the world’s largest ammonia manufacturing facility in Donaldsonville, Louisiana, including contract assignment to a new blue ammonia entity and counsel on related tax, environmental, transactional and regulatory issues.
- Advised developer on $76 million development and sale of an industrial supplier park and integrated logistics facility at a leading global motor company’s Mississippi manufacturing campus.
- Spearheaded LNG plant development in Calcasieu Parish, Louisiana, by leading corporate formation and governance, real estate acquisitions, negotiations with port authorities and other governmental stakeholders, contractual matters, permitting and environmental due diligence.
- Secured site control for 135-mile common carrier pipeline through easements across approximately 300 parcels in five Texas counties, leading landowner negotiations and more than 75 condemnation proceedings.
- Advanced nitrogen and phosphate manufacturer’s $2.1 billion Louisiana plant expansion to develop the world’s largest nitrogen complex, drafting and negotiating EPC contracts, advising on state and parish tax incentives, tax liabilities and contractor payment claims.