Current Employment Position(s)

Partner

Lawyer Overview

Allison is a partner of Lathrop & Gage LLP and is a member of the firm's executive committee. She practices with the firm's Real Estate Section and Public Law Team. Ms. Bergman has a broad background in real estate development and development finance. She has extensive experience structuring transactions involving and navigating the complexities of tax increment financing, Chapter 353 urban redevelopment, revenue bonds, low income housing tax credits, historic tax credits, land clearance, condemnation, sale-leaseback, personal and property tax abatement transactions, and numerous other gap financing methods available such as transportation development and community improvement districts.

Development Initiatives. Ms. Bergman routinely leads complex real estate projects that involve the review, analysis and application of federal, state and local real estate laws, regulations, zoning and development incentives -- all of which require persuasive negotiating with governmental agencies, public advocacy, and compliance issues. These transactions have culminated in a variety of projects ranging from the creation of international and local corporate headquarters projects, multi-million dollar industrial expansion projects, the comprehensive redevelopment of entire urban neighborhood, redevelopment of numerous historic properties into affordable rate housing.

Allison has a wealth of experience representing nationally known hoteliers and entrepreneurial hotel developers in the challenging hospitality industry. Her experience is broad and includes structuring relative financing and developer positions in a transaction, identifying regulatory constraints, negotiating and documenting complex multi-party development agreements that include municipal incentive participation and present contractor, vendor and minority participation compliance issues, and negotiating franchise agreements. At present, Ms. Bergman is serving as outside legal counsel to a legendary and prolific hotelier in the development of several hotel and convention center projects. She is also assisting two developers in all aspects of developing boutique hotels in Kansas City and has advised various local governments regarding hotel and mixed use development. Allison has assisted Hilton Hotels Corporation and continues to represent other hotel/gaming concerns in Missouri with development and compliance issues.

Ms. Bergman also represents developers, neighborhood associations and special interest groups in drafting and implementing development criteria and regulations related to development initiatives. She has been a part of the redevelopment Kansas City through assisting numerous commercial property owners in completing condominium conversions, including the Carlton Plaza Condominium, a large-scale, high-rise condominium conversion project on Kansas City's Country Club Plaza.

Transportation and Regulatory. Ms. Bergman's experience also includes a specialty representing railroads, transportation companies and utility companies in handling matters unique to such entities, including complex purchase and rail service agreements, eminent domain, drafting legislation, negotiating and documenting public/private partnerships, identifying and formulating project financing structures and advocating such issues before public, administrative and legislative bodies. Ms. Bergman serves as general counsel to the Kansas City Terminal Railway Company, the oldest functioning freight railroad company in Kansas City which manages the most freight rail traffic in the United States. In that role, she negotiates rail transport, real estate and service agreements, some of which have required advocacy before the United States Surface Transportation Board. She also serves as the corporate secretary to the KCTR and in that role, serves the KCTR's owners which include the Union Pacific Railroad Company, the BNSF Railway Company, the Kansas City Southern Railway Company, the Norfolk Southern and the Iowa Chicago & Eastern Railroad. Allison also provides legal services to engineering companies on various rail improvement projects and is currently assisting the BNSF Railway Company in a multi-million dollar expansion project in Kansas City. Allison has also served as counsel to the Kansas City Area Transportation Authority.

In addition, Ms. Bergman has experience in general commercial real estate including sale and lease agreement drafting and negotiation, structuring sale-leaseback arrangements and development agreements among multiple entities, commercial loan and leasing transactions, identifying potential financing mechanisms, and lease negotiations for both landlords and tenants in the leasing of space in shopping centers and free standing buildings. Her practice routinely involves the interpretation and application of laws such as the Real Estate Settlement and Procedures Act, the Uniform Relocation Act, and federal and state historic tax credits.

Ms. Bergman formerly served as a law clerk for the U.S. Army-JAG Corps in its Contract Appeals Division, where she litigated contested government contracts. Ms. Bergman also worked for U.S. Senator Charles S. Robb of Virginia for whom her primary duties included coordination of state-level development programs. While working for the Virginia Department of Historic Resources, Ms. Bergman prepared and advocated historic properties for inclusion onto the National Register of Historic Places and reviewed building and design plans for projects that affected nationally registered historic properties and required review under federal preservation laws.

Areas of Practice

• Government Relations
• Financial Institutions
• Public Finance
• Real Estate
• Land Use, Zoning and Development
• Railroad

West Practice Categories

Banking & Finance Law, Government Agencies & Programs, Real Estate Law

Bar Admissions

• Missouri, 1997
• Kansas, 1998
• U.S. District Court for the Western District of Missouri

Professional Associations and Memberships

• Board of Directors of the Local Initiatives Support Corporation (LISC) 2009
• Greater Missouri Leadership Challenge, 2005
• Greater Kansas City Chamber of Commerce - Centurions (Class of 2003)
• Board of Directors, Sheffield Place
• Board and Executive Committee Member - Metropolitan Energy Center
• Member, Urban Land Institute
• Secretary, Board Member and General Counsel, La Strada dell'Arte
• Former Chair –Women in Politics Committee, The Central Exchange
• Committee Member, Greater Kansas City Chamber of Commerce / Kansas City, Missouri Committee
• Steering Committee Member - KU Architectural Design Studio
• Committee Member - Broadway Corridor Beautification Committee
• Former Board Member - Committee for County Progress
• Member, Women's Political Caucus
• The Kansas City Metropolitan Bar Association
• The Missouri Bar
• Member - The Urban Core Group
• Speaker - Society of Marketing Professionals, The Kansas City Metropolitan Bar Association
• Volunteer - Downtown Council/Blighted Buildings Subcommittee
• Volunteer - Kansas City, Missouri Department of Public Works/Adopt-a-Street

Honors and Awards

• Selected as Missouri/Kansas Super Lawyer, 2007-2009
• Named One of Kansas City's Influential Women, Kansas City Business Magazine, 2007
• The Urban Lawyer, Editor-in-Chief
• UMKC Law Review
• National Ellison Moot Court Competition

Education

• University of Missouri-Kansas City School of Law, 1996
  J.D.
• Virginia Commonwealth University, 1992
  B.S.
  Honors: summa cum laude

Published Works

• Allison Bergman Selected Among Missouri's "Lawyers of the Year", 2008
• The Kansas City Star - Circuit judge dismisses condemnation of former school, 2008
• Firm Obtains Favorable Ruling in Court for Ivanhoe Neighborhood Council and Horace Mann School, 2008
• 52 Lathrop & Gage Attorneys Named Super Lawyers, 2008
• The Pitch - Two factions wage a pricey war for control of the Horace Mann building, 2008
• 45 Lathrop & Gage Attorneys Named Super Lawyers, 2007
• Lathrop & Gage Announces New CEO, Members of Executive Committee, 2007
• Allison Bergman Named One of Kansas City's Influential Women, 2007

Address

2345 Grand Blvd.
Suite 2800
Kansas City, MO 64108

Phones

(816) 460-5745 (Business Phone)

Faxes

(816) 292-2001 (Business Fax)

Emails

Contact Us (Business Email)

Websites

http://www.lathropgage.com/