Kyrus Freeman | Holland & Knight

Holland & Knight partner Kyrus Freeman works on projects that are rising amid a building boom in the nation’s capital. There’s a condo project near Washing­ton’s trendy Logan Circle that incorporates an older, historic structure, and there’s a new office-and-residence complex for the diplomatic staff of the People’s Republic of China. There’s also a major redevelopment of a District of Columbia public housing project under the federal Hope VI program.

Freeman, 34, counsels clients — including developers, property owners and tenants — on zoning and land-use issues. It’s a field he chose so he could see underutilized properties transformed into greater assets. “At the end of the day, there’s a tangible product that you can see, feel and touch,” he said. At the University of Pennsylvania — where he became the first of his siblings to graduate from college — he minored in urban studies and was fascinated with buildings. He graduated from Vanderbilt University Law School and took a brief detour as a litigator in Philadelphia before joining Holland & Knight and moving into transactional work.