Practice Areas
Our attorneys are skilled in providing legal services in a broad range of practice areas, and are able to work with our clients to develop personalized solutions.
The firm’s main areas of expertise are listed below:
- Affordable Housing Development
- Condominium Development and Cooperative Housing
- Low Income Housing Tax Credit Syndication
- Nonprofit Representation
- Charter and Public School Development
- Health Care Real Estate and Supportive Housing
- Government Affairs
- Real Estate Finance
- Taxation and Tax Incentives
Affordable Housing Development
The firm has one of the leading affordable housing and community development practices in the New York metropolitan area. We have represented numerous for-profit developers and non-profit developers in connection with their financing, acquisition, construction, rehabilitation, and development of multifamily housing projects. We advise developers on the wide range of issues that arise during the course of structuring multifamily transactions, such as the overall transaction structure, entity creation, real estate issues, and regulatory issues. Our attorneys have a wealth of experience with virtually every federal, state and local housing program.
Condominium Development and Cooperative Housing
We have a substantial condominium and cooperative practice in which we serve clients working on new developments ranging from small projects in the outer boroughs to large-scale luxury developments in Manhattan; we have also worked on numerous affordable and mixed-income cooperatives and condominiums. Our attorneys have represented condominium developers in the acquisition, finance and refinance, construction, and completion of new condominium developments. We also serve as general counsel to various large cooperatives, in which capacity we provide advice on proposed renovations, capital improvement contracts, corporate issues and day-to-day operations. We have regular dealings with the New York State Law Department, the governmental office charged with the oversight of condominium and cooperative development in New York State.
Low-Income Housing Tax Credit Syndication
We serve as counsel for many of the industry’s largest tax credit syndicators which purchase limited partner interests in affordable housing developments financed through Low-Income Housing Tax Credits. We have experience in structuring tax credit transactions through the use of sophisticated multi-tiered investment vehicles.
Nonprofit Representation
In the course of developing affordable or supportive housing, nonprofit organizations frequently encounter various issues which, while not necessarily real-estate related, nonetheless require immediate attention and careful scrutiny. Our firm has served as general counsel to a number of nonprofit organizations, and has advised clients on issues such as contracts, construction, land use, commercial leasing, equipment leasing, corporate governance, and obtaining tax-exempt status from the Internal Revenue Service.
Charter and Public School Development
We have served as counsel to developers involved in all phases of development of school facilities in the New York City metropolitan region. We have represented our clients in negotiations with education-related agencies on issues such as site acquisition and control, school construction, construction financing and refinancing, special-purpose entity (“SPE”) formation, leasing and subleasing, and regulatory issues. Additionally, we have served as counsel to providers of secondary education in transactions financed through the sale of bonds issued by the New York City Industrial Development Agency.
Health Care Real Estate and Supportive Housing
Our firm has substantive experience in representing hospitals, health care-related institutions, and developers of supportive housing. We have handled numerous transactions involving health care and supportive housing facility development, which in most cases are financed through private sources as well as public sources such as bonds issued by the New York State Medical Facilities Finance Agency or the New York City Industrial Development Agency. Our professionals sit on the boards of numerous national and regional supportive housing organizations.
Government Affairs
The firm has decades of experience in serving as a liaison between clients and governmental agencies. Whether it means working with HUD officials to get necessary approvals for the refinancing of a supportive housing development, or contacting HPD or HDC to negotiate the language of a regulatory agreement, or speaking to DHCR about Housing Trust Fund financing, our attorneys are able to rely on their understanding of agency procedures and their experience in navigating the myriad governmental approvals required in publicly-financed real estate development.
Real Estate Finance
We have advised our clients on transactions financed with tax-exempt or taxable bonds, loans from state and local governmental entities, conventional loans, and tax-credit equity. Our attorneys have extensive experience negotiating loan, bond and tax credit documents with institutional lenders, governmental or quasi-governmental lenders, and bond issuers.
Taxation and Tax Incentives
The firm has represented numerous developers of affordable and market-rate housing in applying for and obtaining tax benefits under the 420-a, 420-c, 421-a and J-51 tax incentive programs. Additionally, we frequently represent nonprofit developers in their applications to the Internal Revenue Service for tax-exempt status. Our attorneys have successfully obtained tax-exempt status for a large number of nonprofit entities under Sections 501(c)(2), 501(c)(3), and 501(c)(4) of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986, as amended.