A FEW MINUTES WITH JOE HANLEY OF MCDERMOTT, QUILTY, MILLER & HANLEY LLP, ATTORNEY AND COUNSEL FOR CORE INVESTMENTS, INC.
Joe Hanley is a Partner at the law firm McDermott, Quilty & Miller & Hanley LLP and a land use attorney who has represented Core Investments for since 2013.
What do you actually do for Core?
I am Core’s zoning, permitting and strategic for its development projects with the City of Boston. For over 10 years, I’ve helped to entitle several of their new mixed-use, residential and commercial, adaptive re-use and expansion projects in South Boston, in the community process with the neighborhood interest groups and its elected delegation for the City’s regulatory approvals process.
Joe, what did you do before Core?
For the past 23 years, I’ve been a land use development, zoning, and permitting attorney for various client projects in Boston and the surrounding region. During this time, I’ve helped to entitle millions of square feet of mixed-use development and thousands of new housing units throughout the City of Boston and in Somerville and Cambridge. I’m especially proud of my prior work on several community-based developments in South Boston, to help revitalize West Broadway with a new hotel, restaurant and mixed-use residential projects, and for Core’s transformative Washington Village project with Samuels & Associates in Andrew Square. A lot of that happened before Core, in [Mayor Thomas] Menino’s final term, around 2010. There wasn’t a whole lot going on in that area.
Where did you go to school?
I attended Suffolk Law School and graduated with a B.S. in political science from the University of Maine.
And where did you grow up?
I grew up in Maine, graduated college in 1992 and began my career in Washington, D.C. Out of college I worked for then U.S. Senator and former Secretary of Defense William S. Cohen, which is where I got my experience in politics. I was a legislative aide 1992-’95. In 1995, I moved to Boston and went to work for McDermott O’Neill & Associates as a public relations executive. This is where I met my current partners, who founded our law firm in 1999 as McDermott, Quilty & Miller, LLP. I was one of their first associates and became a partner in 2007. On the firm’s 25th anniversary last year, we rebranded to add my name to the firm, as McDermott, Quilty, Miller & Hanley LLP.
Where do you live?
I live in Newton with my wife and two daughters. I lived in the city [Boston] for 15 years and was active in the Back Bay. I still serve on the Board of the Back Bay Association, its business advocacy group.
What do you do to have fun when you’re not working?
I ski tons. Up in Vermont, yeah, a lot of skiing. Out west too. Almost every weekend at Sugarbush. We have a place in Vermont. That and our dog. We’re big dog people. German Shorthair pointer. Her name is Lixi. They’re birddogs. I’ve had three, rescued the first one.
What’s a favorite place of yours in the Boston area?
That’s a great question. Obviously, I love restaurants. And I’ve got to be honest with you, Castle Island is great. I used to run down there a lot. I love the Athenaeum too. It’s just a great place. And the map room at the Boston Public Library, which [developer] Norman Leventhal did. The BPL is one of the greatest treasures. Those are kind of the top three.
Is there anything else new in your life?
My wife turned 50, a big milestone. We went to the Quin [Quin House], which was great. I’m a member there. We built a new ski house in Vermont and got in there last year. That was a real big thing. And, of course, we added my name to the firm and celebrated its 25th anniversary of practice last year. I almost forgot that. I’d been partner since 2007, so it was more about branding. It didn’t really change anything, kind of symbolic. We are more like a family than just a firm.