Mitchell Carrel is a Partner in the Real Estate Practice of Smith, Gambrell & Russell, LLP. Mr. Carrel was a Partner at Freeborn & Peters, which combined with SGR in 2023.
Mr. Carrel’s practice focuses on representing public and private companies, land owners, developers and investors and helping them secure land use and zoning approvals, public incentives, local regulatory and siting approvals, as well as performing zoning due diligence. Among Mr. Carrel’s projects, he has helped obtain numerous approvals for the data centers, underground fiber optic conduit paths and for the siting of wireless communications facilities and has written about the process from siting to completion. He frequently represents clients before local plan commissions, zoning boards and city councils.
Mr. Carrel previously acted as an interim national land use attorney for Clear Channel Outdoor America’s during its digital board transformation. Before joining Freeborn (now SGR), he was a shareholder and led the Land Use Group at Vedder Price PC in Chicago. He is also a Co-Founder of Proxfinity, an award-winning Chicago-based data and technology company.
Mr. Carrel received his B.S. from Miami University and his J.D. from Michigan State University College of Law, cum laude.
Moderator, “Up-Close with the Illinois Data Center Coalition – Public/Private Partnership,” Bisnow’s Third Annual Data Center Investment Conference & Expo Midwest (September 2019).
“Data Center Site Selection: “Cost of Land and Power, Economic Incentives and More,” Bisnow’s Second Annual Data Center Investment Conference & Expo Midwest (August 2018).
“Chicago’s Hottest Submarkets: Hotbeds of Development and Suburban Demand,” Bisnow Event (April 2018).
“Tasty Trade’s,” Bootstrapping in America (March 2018).
“Data Center Site Selection: Big Picture Strategy, Cost of Land & Power, Economic Incentive and Beyond,” Bisnow’s Data Center Conference and Expo Midwest (August 2017).
“Development Trends and Projects,” BISNOW Development and Construction Event (August 2016).
“State of the Illinois Incubation Movement,” Illinois Incubator Conference, (June 2016).
“Credits and Incentives for Manufacturers and Distributors,” 2014 Manufacturing & Distribution Executive Summit (November 2014).
“Land Use Issues in Real Estate Transactions,” Practising Law Institute’s 15th Annual Commercial Real Estate Institute (October 2013).
“Future-izing Your Food Facility: Factors, Forces and Financing,” webinar (October 2012).
“Illinois Land Use Issues in Real Estate Transactions,”15th Annual Commercial Real Estate Institute, Volume Two, 2013. (Chapter 23).
“Amended Affordable Housing Regulations.”
“Alice in Towerland: Judicial Review of Land Use Decisions on Cellular Telecommunications Facilities,” The Urban Lawyer.
“Disguised as a Tree: Judicial Review of Land Use Decisions on Cellular Telecommunications Facilities,” The Urban Lawyer.
“Tell Me What You Really Think: Judicial Review of Land Use Decisions on Cellular Telecommunications Facilities,” The Urban Lawyer.
“Delaney’s Semi-Scientific Test & Other Adventures in Cellular Networks & Land Use Under the Telecommunications Act,” The Urban Lawyer.
“Sprouting Towers: Resolving the Struggle Between Cellular Towers and Nature Under the Telecommunications Act,” The Urban Lawyer.
“Attention Owners and Operators of Surface Parking Lots.”
“Patchwork Quilts, Bumblebees and Scales: Cellular Networks and Land Use Under the Telecommunications Act,” The Urban Lawyer.
“Twin Towers: The Developing Split in Interpretations of Facility Siting Law Under the Telecommunications Act,” The Urban Lawyer.
“Railroad Tracks by Walden Pond: The Ongoing Struggle Between Towers & Providers Under the Telecommunications Act,” The Urban Lawyer.
“Hot Topics in Land Use Law” (Chapter 5).
“Tower of Babble: The Continuing Struggle Over Wireless Siting Issues Under the Telecommunications Act,” The Urban Lawyer.
