Charles Simpson, Jeanine Margiano and Team Represent Not-For-Profit Corporation in Financing of Development of Harlem Low-Income Housing Complex



Tuesday, June 19, 2012

Windels Marx represented the Abyssinian Development Corporation (ADC) in connection with the financing of the renovation of existing structures at Ennis Frances Houses and the new construction of an additional 220 unit low-income units within the housing complex located in Harlem, New York.

The deal team included Charles Simpson (Partner, New York), Jeanine Margiano, Julian Buchbinder (both Associates, New York), Leonard LaBarbiera (Special Counsel, New Brunswick), and Debbie Bindler (Special Counsel, New York).

The team's work included negotiating the terms of the construction financing, the debt portion of which was provided by the issuance of tax-exempt bonds and enhanced by a letter of credit. The equity portion of the construction financing was raised through the availability of low income housing tax credits (LIHTC), and we represented ADC in negotiating a limited partnership agreement with an LIHTC investor for the receipt of these monies.

On behalf of the owner, our team negotiated with the NYC Housing Authority, the project administrator for the U.S. Department of Housing & Urban Development (HUD), to obtain project-based Section 8 vouchers under a Housing Assistance Payments Contract, and with the NYC Department of Housing Preservation and Development (HPD) to obtain real estate tax abatements for the project. They also negotiated various consents of the HUD, based in Washington, DC, in connection with the financing.

Our Public Finance & Not-for-Profit group regularly represents not-for-profit developers in connection with affordable housing transactions. We have been instrumental in developing structures to accommodate multiple financing vehicles, including tax-exempt bonds, low income housing tax credits and various levels of subordinate loans.