State of NYC Affordable: Development Pipeline & Target Neighborhoods

Hot Spots for Affordable Housing Developments

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  Pamela West

  Real Estate: Affordable Housing Acquisitions, Asset Management, Dispositions and Portfolio Management

  Nuveen

  MD, Impact Investing

  Pamela West

  MD, Impact Investing

  Nuveen

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  Andy Cohen

  Mr. Cohen is responsible for managing BRP Companies' new construction and acquisition rehab transactions. Since 2013, Mr. Cohen has been responsible for over $1B in development comprising over 2,100 units of mixed-income affordable rental housing and over 150,000 SF of commercial space. Mr. Cohen previously held various positions at the New York City Department of Housing Preservation and Development (HPD). Most recently, Mr. Cohen served as the Director of Low Income Housing Tax Credit (LIHTC) Preservation where he oversaw the legal and financial restructuring of over 5,000 residential dwelling units, comprised of over 50 separate transactions. In this role, Mr. Cohen originated over $50M in construction and permanent debt and leveraged over $100M in bond financing, over $80M in equity, $17M in conventional debt, and refinanced over $150M in existing debt. Mr. Cohen holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in Urban Development from Trinity College and a Master of Arts degree in Urban and Environmental Policy and Planning from Tufts University.

  BRP Companies

  Managing Director

  Andy Cohen

  Managing Director

  BRP Companies

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  Basha Gerhards

  Basha is focused on topics related to housing, land use, zoning, resiliency, and community development. Previously, Basha served as a senior land use advisor to Manhattan Borough President Gale A. Brewer. Prior to that, Basha worked at City of New York’s Department of City Planning. She has an M.S. in Urban Planning from Columbia University GSAPP and holds a B.F.A. in Historic Preservation, with a concentration in Urban Design & Development, from the Savannah College of Art & Design.

  Real Estate Board of New York (REBNY)

  Senior Vice President of Planning

  Basha Gerhards

  Senior Vice President of Planning

  Real Estate Board of New York (REBNY)

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  Louise Carroll

  A well-known figure in New York City's affordable housing community, Louise Carroll has the depth of experience to steer clients through the financial and legal complexities of affordable housing and mixed-income housing projects. With a distinguished career in public service that spanned over 20 years, including a tenure as commissioner of the New York City Department of Housing Preservation and Development (HPD) and chair of the New York City Housing Development Corporation (HDC), the city's bond issuer, Louise has a keen understanding of the policies and processes that developers and project owners must navigate. Clients benefit from the knowledge and tools that Louise acquired throughout her years in public service, during which she earned a reputation as a highly effective agent of change. She served for nearly 15 years in HPD, working to produce and preserve affordable housing across New York City. Appointed as HPD commissioner and chair of HDC by former Mayor Bill de Blasio in May 2019, Louise managed over 1 billion dollars in city and federal funds to finance one of the most significant and complex affordable housing plans in the country. During her tenure, she pushed the plan's goal of 300,000 units ahead of schedule by two years. Prior to leading HPD, Louise developed a deep understanding of the affordable housing framework while holding several leadership positions there, including assistant commissioner for inclusionary housing and associate commissioner for housing incentives. In these positions, she worked to craft changes to New York City's tax programs to achieve greater affordability. Additionally, she led the team as one of the chief architects in designing and implementing the city's Mandatory Inclusionary Housing Program to require the creation of permanently affordable housing in conjunction with residential rezonings and streamlined the Voluntary Inclusionary Housing Program to increase production.

  Katten Muchin Rosenman LLP

  Partner

  Louise Carroll

  Partner

  Katten Muchin Rosenman LLP

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  Daniel Bernstein

  Daniel M. Bernstein joined Rosenberg & Estis, P.C. in 2017 and is a member and leader of the firm's Tax Incentives & Affordable Housing Department. Mr. Bernstein's practice involves affordable housing and urban development issues in New York, obtaining property tax exemptions and abatements (new and old 421-a, ICAP/ICIP, 420-c, 420-a, J-51, Article XI, etc.), development rights bonuses and incentives / zoning requirements (Voluntary and Mandatory Inclusionary Housing, FRESH program, Zoning for Quality and Affordability) for New York City projects. Mr. Bernstein is experienced in the assessment and taxation of real property in New York, as well as acquisition, financing, leasing, Declarations of Condominium, and condominium offering plans. Mr. Bernstein also has extensive experience helping real estate developers obtain economic incentives for their residential, commercial, or mixed-use projects.

  Rosenberg & Estis

  Member

  Moderator

  Daniel Bernstein

  Member

  Rosenberg & Estis

Financing Affordable Housing: Making the Equation Work

Capital Markets Outlook

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  Jessica Yoon

  Managing Director

  L+M Development Partners

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  Jenny Wu

  Jenny Wu is the Managing Director of Development for Jonathan Rose Companies who has been with the company since 2012. She brings a broad base of design and construction, finance, and development experience, and is responsible for leading the firm’s pivotal green development projects in the East Coast. Prior to joining Jonathan Rose Companies, Ms. Wu was an architect for the New York-based architecture firm Rogers Marvel Architects where she designed and managed the construction of several adaptive reuse projects, including conversion of a piano factory into a non-profit film school and a mattress warehouse into a community soup kitchen. Ms. Wu received a Master of Science in Real Estate Development degree from Massachusetts Institute of Technology and a Bachelor of Architecture degree from University of Texas at Austin. She is a Registered Architect in the State of New York, LEED Accredited Professional, and actively serves on the Board of Women in Housing and Finance.

  Jonathan Rose Companies

  MD, Development

  Jenny Wu

  MD, Development

  Jonathan Rose Companies

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  Raymond Li

  Raymond Li is a senior mortgage banker at KeyBank Real Estate Capital, focused on affordable housing to expand community development lending and investment activity in the Northeast. He is responsible for new affordable housing business development and relationship management as part of a team providing off-balance sheet financing solutions to for-profit and non-profit real estate owners, investors, and developers. Mr. Li joined Key in 2022. Mr. Li brings more than fifteen years of real estate experience in affordable housing, finance and investment banking to KeyBank. Prior to joining Key, he was a director with Santander Bank’s Community Development Finance team, where he led the debt and equity originations team, managing a $2 billion portfolio of assets that qualify for Community Reinvestment Act credit. Previously, Mr. Li was at Citigroup’s Citi Community Capital group, part of the investment banking division, and managed a $1 billion portfolio of highly structured mixed-used affordable housing transactions across the nation. Mr. Li previously served on the Massachusetts Housing Investment Corporation’s investment committee from 2017- 2022 and on advisory boards for several private equity funds. Mr. Li first entered the real estate industry in 2006.

  KeyBank

  Senior Mortgage Banker

  Raymond Li

  Senior Mortgage Banker

  KeyBank

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  Rob Wrzosek

  Rob Wrzosek is President - Affordable Strategies at NewPoint Real Estate Capital, responsible for developing proprietary non-agency executions and managing investments in affordable housing bonds. He has over two decades of multifamily and affordable housing finance experience. Prior to joining NewPoint, Wrzosek was Head of Multifamily at Bluefin Capital Management. Previously, he was responsible for the affordable housing and HUD/FHA finance businesses of Berkeley Point (now Newmark). During his career, Wrzosek has served on the board of directors of Walker & Dunlop, was President of Hunt Mortgage Group, and managed the tax-exempt affordable housing securitization and tax equity syndication platforms for Credit Suisse. He has also acted as an outside advisor to the Obama Administration on issues pertaining to the LIHTC program, and was a partner at Eichner & Norris PLLC, a Washington, DC-based law firm. Wrzosek holds both a Bachelor of Science in Finance and a Bachelor of Arts in Philosophy from Ithaca College, a J.D. from Duke University School of Law, and a Master of Laws in Taxation from Georgetown University Law Center.

  NewPoint Real Estate Capital

  President – Affordable Strategies

  Rob Wrzosek

  President – Affordable Strategies

  NewPoint Real Estate Capital

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  William Russo

  William Russo is CPC’s Senior Vice President, Chief Investment Officer. In this role, he provides leadership and partnership to all of CPC’s business lines in assisting the development and execution of the company’s strategic goals and the growth of its impact. This includes managing the analysis around investments and funding opportunities and partnering with the Finance department on the analysis of revenue enhancing and cost saving opportunities. Russo also works collaboratively with the Chief Financial Officer to guide the company’s finance objectives and capital raising strategies, as well as advising its Capital Allocation Committee and Board of Directors. Russo joined CPC in April 2018 as Senior Vice President, Capital Strategies where he was responsible for driving the company’s capital raising efforts. Prior to joining CPC, he served as Managing Director in the Restructuring and Transaction Advisory Services group at Berkeley Research Group (FKA Capstone Advisory Group), an advisory firm specializing in restricting and transaction advisory, forensic and litigation consulting, and valuation services. In that role, he functioned as both a company-side advisor and lender-side advisor in pharma, assisted living, manufacturing, homebuilding and real estate in activities related to debt repayments, bankruptcies, bankruptcy emergence and turnarounds. Russo also worked in close collaboration with, or directly managed, the efforts of financial analysts. While at Capstone, Russo was part of the team that was retained by CPC from 2011 to 2014 to advise the company during its restructuring and recapitalization. Russo has also served in similar roles in financial and economic analysis and consulting at Citigroup Corporate and Investment Bank as well as PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP. Russo received his Bachelor of Science in Accounting and Finance from Syracuse University, School of Management. He is also a member of the Association of Insolvency and Restructuring Advisors.

  The Community Preservation Corporation

  Senior Vice President, Chief Investment Officer

  William Russo

  Senior Vice President, Chief Investment Officer

  The Community Preservation Corporation

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  Jeet Gulati

  Jeet Gulati is a lawyer with Windels Marx Lane & Mittendorf, LLP. He represents financial institutions, real estate developer-owners, and nonprofits with public-private partnerships, particularly with redevelopment and affordable housing financing transactions. He also represents governmental agencies with inter-agency and real estate ventures. Prior to joining Windels Marx in 2019, he was a Deputy Attorney General in the New Jersey Division of Law, where he focused on real estate and public finance transactions, including representing the New Jersey Housing and Mortgage Finance Agency on multifamily transactions and the New Jersey Infrastructure Bank on its water and transportation infrastructure financing programs. Prior to that, he was an Assistant General Counsel at New York City Housing Development Corporation (“NYCHDC”) where he represented the agency in financing the new construction or preservation of over 2,000 units of affordable housing in New York City. Mr. Gulati began his career as a Housing Fellow at NYCHDC and its sister agency, the New York City Department of Housing Preservation and Development. He holds a J.D., cum laude, from Brooklyn Law School, and a B.A., cum laude, from City College of New York. Jeet is admitted in NY and NJ.

  Windels Marx Lane & Mittendorf

  Associate

  Moderator

  Jeet Gulati

  Associate

  Windels Marx Lane & Mittendorf

What's Next After 421a? Emerging Tax Incentives for Affordable Housing Developments

How to Incentivize Affordable Developments after 421a?

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  Steve Krasman

  COO

  Slate

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  Jordan Barowitz

  Vice President

  Durst

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  Brett Gottlieb

  Brett J. Gottlieb is partner in Herrick's Real Estate Department where he represents real estate owners, lessees and developers in the application process for New York City’s real property tax incentives including 421-a, ICIP/ICAP and FRESH. Brett counsels clients regarding their property tax benefit applications with respect to project eligibility, benefit calculation, benefit planning and implementation of the exemption or abatement of real property tax in the City of New York. For the Industrial Commercial Abatement Program (ICAP), Brett counsels owners, developers, architects and contractors on the ICAP Rules and Law pertaining to applications submitted to the New York City Department of Finance. Additionally, he advises on the Equal Employment Opportunity and Minority/Women Business Owned Enterprise (M/WBE) requirements included within Executive Order 50 of 1980, Executive Order 94 of 1986, Local Law 67 of 2008 and Local Law 102 of 2018 as they pertain to ICAP project before the Department of Small Business Services, Division of Labor Services. Brett's experience with the 421-a Partial Tax Exemption Program and its successor Affordable New York (421-a(16)) includes counseling clients on project eligibility, rent stabilization, dwelling unit stacking, affordable unit proportionality, building measurement, benefit planning and calculation. Brett assists owners and managing agents with the submission of initial and annual rent registrations to the Division of Homes & Community Renewal (DHCR). For the FRESH Program, he counsels clients on the tax incentive benefit, core application submission, benefit calculations and various program requirements and restrictions. Brett also prepares attorney opinion letters including tax projections for ICAP, 421-a and FRESH. He also counsels lenders and purchasers as part of the due diligence and underwriting and underwriting requirements. He counsels both landlords and tenants with regards to property tax incentive clauses in leases. Before joining Herrick, Brett was a partner at Tuchman, Weiss, Liebman & Lindemann, LLP.

  Herrick Feinstein

  Partner

  Moderator

  Brett Gottlieb

  Partner

  Herrick Feinstein

Impact of Rising Rents & Inflation on Affordable Housing

Macro Economic Impact Outlook on NYC's Affordable Housing Outlook

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  Kimberly Darga

  Deputy Commissioner for Development

  NYC Department of Housing Preservation & Development

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  Sara Myerson

  Sara Myerson serves as Vice President for Suffolk Ventures. She joined Suffolk Ventures in March 2019 and brings a strong background in real estate, finance and policy, along with expertise in neighborhood redevelopment and public private partnerships. Prior to her work at Suffolk Ventures, Ms. Myerson served as the Director of Planning at the Boston Planning and Development Agency, where she oversaw the agency’s work related to planning, urban design and zoning. She began her career at Goldman Sachs, where she spent time in the Urban Investment Group and the Investment Banking Division. Sara holds a Master in Urban Planning from Harvard University and a Bachelor of Arts from Middlebury College.

  MSquared

  Managing Director, Acquisitions

  Sara Myerson

  Managing Director, Acquisitions

  MSquared

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  Sean Campion

  Director of Housing and Economic Development

  Citizens Budget Commission

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  Rosibel Tavares

  Rosibel Tavares is an account manager at NYC Accelerator. Her academic background in environmental policy and involvement within the Environmental and Climate Justice fields has centered her career in that of advocacy for equity and inclusion within the energy and sustainability field. She cultivated her passion for intersectionality in the sustainability movement and the inclusion of underrepresented communities through her time as a Climate Justice Fellow at UPROSE, one of NYC’s historic Environmental Justice organizations. She went on to hold the role of Senior Community Energy Advisor under NYSERDA’s Community Energy Engagement Program, where she built expertise in energy efficiency and resiliency programing, connecting homeowners and communities throughout the city to information and resources regarding sustainability.

  NYC Accelerator

  Account Manager

  Rosibel Tavares

  Account Manager

  NYC Accelerator

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  Ilya Weinstein

  Ilya Weinstein is Vice President of Bellwether Enterprise Real Estate Capital, LLC where he focuses on loan origination and management of developer relationships for the firm. Prior to joining Bellwether, Ilya was an Associate at Wells Fargo, where he analyzed and structured nearly $1 billion in Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac affordable multifamily loans nationwide. Prior to Wells Fargo, Ilya was an Associate at Red Stone Partners where he helped to originate, structure, and close tax-exempt bond financings of affordable housing properties. Ilya is a graduate of Colgate University and holds a degree in International Relations and Russian studies.

  Bellwether Enterprise Real Estate Capital, LLC

  VP

  Ilya Weinstein

  VP

  Bellwether Enterprise Real Estate Capital, LLC

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  David Farino

  David has extensive experience in the structuring, placement, and servicing of master programs, contractor controlled insurance programs and subcontractor default insurance. He has worked with construction managers, general contractors, prime and trade contractors as well as owners and developers. Prior to joining NFP, David was a senior underwriter at Arch Insurance, focused on casualty and subcontractor default in the construction division. David has maintained broker and carrier relationships throughout the region as well as country wide that prove valuable to the NFP construction clients. His current responsibilities include handling daily activities and servicing functions of casualty programs as well as renewals for construction focused clients; marketing and placement of project specific and master program coverages and assist in the management of the country wide practice of construction insurance at NFP. David received his bachelor’s degree in Business Administration from Hofstra University and maintains both the Associate in Risk Management (ARM) and Chartered Property Casualty Underwriter (CPCU) designations.

  NFP

  Assistant VP, Account Manager

  Moderator

  David Farino

  Assistant VP, Account Manager

  NFP