Scott E. Saef

SCOTT SAEF has, for over 25 years, assisted clients with addressing local regulatory issues and obtaining zoning approvals, efficiently combining on each assignment a substantial knowledge of local government law and procedure with broad-ranging tactical experience. 

Scott’s land use, incentive and property tax practice involves frequent appearances before a range of government bodies, both administrative and legislative, in the Chicago metropolitan area with which he works to bring to fruition a variety of complex projects, particularly focused on commercial, industrial, utility, institutional, transportation, and educational initiatives. Scott’s work has included significant interaction with the City of Chicago and its agencies, including the Chicago City Council, Chicago Plan Commission, Department of Planning and Department of Transportation, as well as variety of suburban jurisdictions. Scott also coordinates land use and zoning activities in out-of-state locations, working cooperatively with a network of land use practitioners around the country to help clients with portfolios of properties manage the entitlement process and maintain a consistent approach.

Scott also counsels clients in stadium development matters and other transactions involving public-private partnerships, opportunities for economic development assistance—such as tax increment financing and state income tax incentives—as well as State and local property tax matters, including property tax division and exemption petitions, property tax incentive matters, and payment-in-lieu-of-tax arrangements. 

Scott has been recognized for his handling of complex zoning negotiations and tax issues by Legal 500 United States 2009 and has been recognized for Real Estate Law in The Best Lawyers in America® in 2022, 2024, 2025, and 2026.

Scott worked as an attorney for the Speaker of the Illinois House of Representatives in 1993 and later worked actively on behalf of an Illinois public utility on landmark legislation deregulating that state’s electric utility industry. Prior to joining the firm, Scott worked as a business reporter for several daily newspapers covering the real estate industry, land use, and growth. At Northwestern School of Law, Scott was the coordinating articles editor of the Northwestern University Law Review.

• Obtained numerous land use approvals throughout northern Illinois for a regulated electric utility (including special use approvals, zoning variations, and property subdivisions).
• Secured entitlements for a new state-of-the-art 900,000-square-foot biomedical research facility in downtown Chicago.
• Negotiated several rounds of economic incentives and street and alley vacations (enabling a key land assemblage) for a steel bar manufacturer.
• Secured zoning approval for a new Salvation Army US$50 million community center, drug/alcohol treatment center, and corrections halfway house in the West Humboldt Park neighborhood of Chicago, following closely on the heels of helping this client purchase a large parcel from the City of Chicago and secure land use approvals for construction of a 160,000-square-foot church community center in the West Pullman neighborhood (known as the Ray & Joan Kroc Corps Community Center), one of the largest projects of its kind in Illinois.
• Representing a major pharmaceutical company in negotiating significant tax incentives (both state and local) as part of a 400,000-square-foot headquarters relocation.

• Former Chairman of the Civic Federation, one of nation’s oldest and most respected tax watchdog and non-partisan government research organizations, now serving on the Executive Committee of the Board of Directors and as a member of the Past Chairman’s Council.
• Citizen Member, Task Force on Unincorporated Cook County (responsibilities currently completed), appointed to serve by Cook County Board President Toni Preckwinkle.

• Primary contact at the firm for the Lincoln Presidential Foundation, an organization which recognizes, creates, and funds projects inspired by the life and leadership of President Abraham Lincoln.
• Assisted Access Living with acquisition from the City of Chicago of a prominent parcel within River North on which this nationally known disability rights organization developed, pursuant to a planned development ordinance, a state-of-the-art headquarters serving as a national model for “universal” design in the commercial context.
• Serves as ongoing property tax exemption and land use counsel for a religious and charitable organization owning and operating a large, historic mixed-use building in the Uptown neighborhood of Chicago, now a demonstration “green-rise” structure which is among the Midwest’s largest non-profit service centers.