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Home > Professionals > Frank J. Vitolo

Frank J. VitoloMember

Newark, NJ
(973) 643-5081

Frank Vitolo is a Member of Sills Cummis & Gross and Co-Chair of the Firm’s Land Use Law Practice Group. He is a recognized leader in planning, zoning, and redevelopment law. Mr. Vitolo maintains a statewide practice in New Jersey and has served as lead development counsel for many of the region’s major commercial real estate projects, including the planning and redevelopment of M-Station Morristown – New Jersey headquarters of Sanofi and Deloitte, Valley Bank’s new headquarters, as well as thousands of new apartments, condominiums, and townhome units.

Mr. Vitolo has extensive experience in New Jersey affordable housing matters, including developer and town compliance with affordable housing laws. During the ongoing Fourth Round compliance period (2025-2035), he has filed numerous challenges on behalf of developers objecting to municipal housing plans. Those challenges have resulted in the addition of nearly 1,000 new housing units into non-compliant housing plans.

Mr. Vitolo has also had significant successes in real estate, land use, and commercial litigation. Using what some have called the “velvet hammer,” Mr. Vitolo combines an aggressive, no-nonsense litigation style with deep substantive expertise to obtain favorable outcomes for clients involved in complex land use appeals, partnership disputes, product liability, and consumer fraud actions in federal and state courts.   Read More...

Over the past five years, Mr. Vitolo has built a New Jersey cannabis law practice, obtaining approvals for cultivation, manufacturing, and retail businesses in Jersey City, Morristown, and Vernon Township, New Jersey, among other places. He has also litigated several cannabis disputes in this burgeoning field, including successful outcomes in the Appellate Division.

Mr. Vitolo is a thought leader in land use and zoning law. He regularly lectures on redevelopment and land use and has been quoted in numerous publications.

Mr. Vitolo has practiced law for over twenty-five years. Before returning to New Jersey in 2003, where Mr. Vitolo was born and raised, he practiced law at a prominent Washington, D.C. law firm.  Before that, he held various positions on Capitol Hill.   Read Less

Frank Vitolo is a Member of Sills Cummis & Gross and Co-Chair of the Firm’s Land Use Law Practice Group. He is a recognized leader in planning, zoning, and redevelopment law. Mr. Vitolo maintains a statewide practice in New Jersey and has served as lead development counsel for many of the region’s major commercial real estate projects, including the planning and redevelopment of M-Station Morristown – New Jersey headquarters of Sanofi and Deloitte, Valley Bank’s new headquarters, as well as thousands of new apartments, condominiums, and townhome units.

Mr. Vitolo has extensive experience in New Jersey affordable housing matters, including developer and town compliance with affordable housing laws. During the ongoing Fourth Round compliance period (2025-2035), he has filed numerous challenges on behalf of developers objecting to municipal housing plans. Those challenges have resulted in the addition of nearly 1,000 new housing units into non-compliant housing plans.

Mr. Vitolo has also had significant successes in real estate, land use, and commercial litigation. Using what some have called the “velvet hammer,” Mr. Vitolo combines an aggressive, no-nonsense litigation style with deep substantive expertise to obtain favorable outcomes for clients involved in complex land use appeals, partnership disputes, product liability, and consumer fraud actions in federal and state courts.

Over the past five years, Mr. Vitolo has built a New Jersey cannabis law practice, obtaining approvals for cultivation, manufacturing, and retail businesses in Jersey City, Morristown, and Vernon Township, New Jersey, among other places. He has also litigated several cannabis disputes in this burgeoning field, including successful outcomes in the Appellate Division.

Mr. Vitolo is a thought leader in land use and zoning law. He regularly lectures on redevelopment and land use and has been quoted in numerous publications.

Mr. Vitolo has practiced law for over twenty-five years. Before returning to New Jersey in 2003, where Mr. Vitolo was born and raised, he practiced law at a prominent Washington, D.C. law firm.  Before that, he held various positions on Capitol Hill.

Practices

  • Real Estate
  • Real Estate Development and Redevelopment
  • Zoning and Land Use
  • Cannabis

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Representative Matters

  • Land Use
    • Obtained redevelopment and site plan approvals for SJP Properties/Scotto to construct M-Station in downtown Morristown. Sanofi and Deloitte are the anchor tenants of this 375,000 sq. ft. mixed-use office complex that includes office, retail, high-end restaurants, a new traffic roundabout, on-site parking, and pedestrian amenities.  In 2020, the M-Station project was awarded “Office Deal of the Year” by NAIOP New Jersey.
    • Obtained redevelopment, site plan, and long-term tax abatement (a/k/a PILOT) approvals for Restoration Hardware to restore the historic Alnwick Hall in Morris Township and construct a new RH furniture gallery, restaurant, and wine bar.
    • Obtained redevelopment, PILOT, and site plan approvals for Bijou Properties to construct an 89-unit mixed-use residential project at the Morristown train station.
    • Obtained Planning Board approval for a mixed-use project featuring 100 corporate, long-term stay hotel units and 100 rental apartment units, with restaurants, retail, and other amenities.
    • Obtained redevelopment and site plan approvals for the Hampshire Companies to construct an 85-unit “live-work” apartment building that will incorporate movable walls, allowing apartment owners to transform their workspaces into residences and vice versa.
    • Obtained rehabilitation and site plan approvals for a 64-unit high-end apartment building on Market and Bank Streets in Morristown.
    • Obtained subdivision and site plan approvals from the zoning board to construct 13 new single-family homes on the Spring Brook golf course.
  • Litigation
    • Lead counsel for numerous developers, including Toll Brothers and Somerset, in their challenges to municipal Fourth Round Affordable Housing plans.
    • Lead counsel in a prerogative writ action on behalf of a developer in Rockaway Township that resulted in “whispering woods” settlement entitling the client to construct an apartment project over existing retail center.
    • Lead counsel in the successful defense of a prerogative writ action and appeal of the client’s cannabis license approvals in Jersey City.
    • Lead counsel in the successful prosecution of a prerogative writ action appealing a zoning board denial of a 28-unit project in Morristown that resulted in the judge ordering the board to approve the project, a very rare remedy ordered in such a case.
    • Lead counsel in the successful defense of a prerogative writ action challenging the client’s fast food restaurant approval for a controversial drive-through restaurant.
    • Lead trial counsel for aircraft engine manufacturer Continental Motors in defense of a suit alleging breach of contract/warranty and defective manufacture.  Following a two-week trial, the jury returned a defense verdict in CMI’s favor (zero Plaintiffs’ recovery). He was also successful in defeating each of Plaintiffs’ appeals.
    • Lead counsel on behalf of a software-as-a-service provider in a multimillion-dollar AAA arbitration proceeding in which the client alleged breach of contract and fraud.
    • Outside counsel for a well-known New York software developer in contract litigation and intellectual property matters.

Court Admissions

  • U.S. District Court, District of New Jersey
  • U.S. District Court, Eastern District of New York

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Publications

Rankings and Recognition

  • Selected for inclusion in:
  • The Best Lawyers in America®* 2025-2026, Real Estate Law
  • ROI-NJ* "ROI Influencers: Real Estate" 2020-2025
  • New Jersey Super Lawyers®* "Rising Stars" 2009-2015, Real Estate Law
  • Received Office Deal of the Year, M-Station, Land Use Counsel Award from NAIOP NJ in 2020.
  • Received Exemplary Private Sector Leader Non-Profit Excellence Award from the Morris County Chamber of Commerce in 2015.
  • Received Founders Award from Table of Hope (formerly Spring Street CDC) in 2024.
  • Received Advocate in Action Award from Cohome in 2023.

* See Award Methodology. No aspect of this advertisement has been approved by the Supreme Court of New Jersey.

Affiliations

  • Advisory Board, Rutgers Center for Real Estate

  • President of the Board of Trustees, Morris Arts (2012–Present)

  • Chairman of the Board of Trustees, Morristown Partnership, (2013-2019)

  • Vice Chairman of the Board of Trustees, Spring Street CDC (now Table of Hope) (2014-2019)

  • Board Member, Morristown Beautiful (2016-2018)

  • Commissioner, Morristown Housing Authority (2012-2016)

  • Candidate for Morristown Town Council (2009)

Education

  • J.D., George Washington University Law School
  • B.A., Boston College (magna cum laude, Phi Beta Kappa )

Bar Admissions

  • New Jersey
  • New York