After ending a nearly decade-long tenure at the City Planning department, Anita Laremont will soon be responsible for lobbying her former colleagues on some of the city’s biggest development projects.
Laremont will join the law firm Fried Frank’s land use and zoning group in September, a spokesperson for the firm told The Real Deal.
An eight-year City Planning veteran, Laremont was appointed chair of the City Planning Commission and director of the department last fall after her predecessor, Marisa Lago, left to join the Biden administration. Her promotion came at a critical juncture for the de Blasio administration, which at the time had just three months to get major rezonings in Gowanus and Soho across the finish line.
Laremont has since been succeeded by former City Council member Dan Garodnick, who was appointed to both roles by Mayor Eric Adams in January.
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During her tenure at the department, Laremont worked on initiatives such as the city’s Mandatory Inclusionary Housing program, the East Midtown rezoning and the approval of JPMorgan’s Park Avenue headquarters.
Fried Frank chairman David Greenwald noted Laremont’s “commanding experience in crafting and managing development policy” and “great success in balancing increased density with neighborhood preservation.” Before joining City Planning, Laremont spent 16 years as general counsel at Empire State Development.
The law firm’s land use group has worked on projects including the Howard Hughes Corporation’s large mixed-use development near the South Street Seaport, RXR Realty and TF Cornerstone’s redevelopment of the Grand Hyatt hotel next to Grand Central Terminal and the aforementioned JPMorgan tower at 270 Park Avenue.
The firm is currently advising Vornado Realty Trust on its redevelopment plan for the area around Penn Station.
Laremont is subject to regulations that prevent ex-chairs from working with their former agency for a two-year period after leaving their jobs. She also won’t be permitted to lobby on any matter she worked on while at City Planning.