Cozette Tran-Caffee
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About Cozette
Cozette Tran-Caffee enjoys working on all aspects of real estate deals and development, and can help clients buy, sell, lease, finance, evaluate, entitle, and divide their real property. Cozette works with clients across a number of industries, including renewable energy, public entities, affordable housing, and food, beverage, and hospitality.
Cozette has experience with a variety of land use matters, including annexation and other boundary changes; comprehensive plan map and zoning map amendments; discretionary design reviews, including historic resource review; land divisions, including subdivisions, partitions, and property line adjustments; land use due diligence and other pre-purchase or pre-development issues; and master planning and amendments. She regularly advises public entities (including cities, school districts, colleges, and special districts) on land use matters. Her experience includes advice on obtaining entitlements on behalf of public entities, and advice to public entities in their role as decision makers on land use matters.
Representative Experience
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Real Estate & Construction Plus
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Represented the buyer with respect to the purchase of property for the development of Oregon’s first direct air capture plant.
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Ongoing representation of the nation’s third largest onshore renewables operator with respect to leasing and engineering, procurement, and construction (EPC) agreements.
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Represented the buyer in the purchase of $67 million, 6,000 acre master-planned resort property.
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Successfully negotiated termination of development agreement with municipal redevelopment agency on behalf of hospitality client.
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Ongoing representation of a commercial landlord with all aspects of ownership and leasing of regional mall.
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Represented a nonprofit affordable housing provider with its entry into the Oregon market, which included the acquisition of seven manufactured home park communities.
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Represented a buyer with its entry into the Oregon real estate market, which included the acquisition of two manufactured home park communities.
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Represented a buyer with its entry into the Oregon and Washington real estate markets, which included the acquisition of two local grocery store chains.
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Land Use Plus
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Obtained a comprehensive plan text amendment and zoning map amendment on behalf of a school district to allow development of a new elementary school on land formerly zoned for agricultural use.
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Obtained multiple master plan amendments on behalf of the owner of mixed-use property (retail, office, and residential), to allow development in line with changed market conditions.
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Represented a residential developer in annexing 70 acres to a smaller city in the Portland metropolitan region.
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Assisted an affordable housing developer with 146-unit project in the City of Portland, including land use approvals for adaptive reuse of historic building and associated new development. Defended approval at the local level and at the Land Use Board of Appeals (LUBA).
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Assisted an affordable housing developer with entitlements for 57-unit affordable senior housing project in the City of Tigard. Defended approval in appeal to Hearings Officer.
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Negotiated and obtained approval of a development agreement for the development of a 50-acre business park in the Seattle metropolitan area, including industrial, manufacturing, and office uses.
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Activities
- Oregon Asian Pacific American Bar Association, Member
- Oregon Minority Lawyers Association, Member
- Oregon Women Lawyers, Member
- Oregon State Bar, Member
- Real Estate and Land Use Section
- ReBuilding Center
- Board Secretary, 2023-present
- Board Member, 2022-present
- Growing Gardens, Board Member, 2023-present
- Leadership Council on Legal Diversity, Pathfinder Program, 2016
- Urban Land Institute (ULI)
- ULI Northwest Women’s Leadership Initiative (WLI) Council, Member
Recognition
- Selected for inclusion in The Best Lawyers in America® (Portland, OR)
- Real Estate Law, 2024-present
- Land Use and Zoning Law, 2024-present
- Selected for inclusion in Best Lawyers: Ones to Watch® (Portland, OR)
- Real Estate Law, 2021-2023
- Selected for inclusion as an Oregon Super Lawyer—Rising Star, 2018-2019, 2021-2022
Insights from Cozette
- “Oregon Energy Facility Siting Council Provides Clarity on Renewable Energy Project Compliance with Statewide Planning Goals,” Miller Nash, From the Ground Up (Oct. 2023)
- “Shelter from the Storm: Commercial Leasing under the Cloud of COVID-19,” Oregon State Bar, Bulletin, coauthor (Dec. 2020)
- “Siting Your Distillery: Leasing and Locational Considerations,” Oregon Business Magazine (Oct. 2018)
- “Options, Rights of First Refusal, and Rights of First Offer: The Who, What, When, Where, Why (and How),” Oregon State Bar, Real Estate and Land Use Section Annual Summer Conference (Aug. 2022)
- “Important Considerations When Negotiating a Distillery Lease,” American Craft Spirits Association (Aug. 2018)
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