Attorneys Stewart Duggan and William Richardson, partners with Brinson Askew Berry's Public and Affordable Housing Group, provided extensive legal counsel to the Northwest Georgia Housing Authority in planning and coordinating the redevelopment and acquisition of a 185 unit multifamily affordable housing development, known as Ashland Park Apartments, through financing that included the sale of low-income housing tax credits and the issuance of approximately $20 million in Series 2021 housing revenue bonds. This affordable housing development is located in Rome, Ga.
Duggan and Richardson worked with the Northwest Georgia Housing Authority (“NWGHA”), a longtime client, in the following areas:
• Negotiating and securing NWGHA’s initial interest in and right to acquire the property.
• Negotiating the exit and removal of guarantees for the prior owners and general partners.
• Initial selection and negotiation of terms in procuring a turn-key co-development partner.
• Approval and assistance in submitting the 4% LIHTC application to the Georgia Department of Community Affairs.
• Completing organizational structure of the Housing Authority’s partnership with co-developer and investor limited partners.
• Negotiation of debt and equity financing documentation.
• Completion of bond validation process to obtain final bond validation order.
• Serving as title and fiscal agent for the newly created limited partnership.
Brinson Askew Berry partner Wright Smith also completed the title work to satisfy all requirements of the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), the Georgia Department of Community Affairs (DCA), the investor and lender leading to the development’s final closing.
The Northwest Georgia Housing Authority will control the development through a long-term ground lease, through is highly-acclaimed property management company, and will be the sole general partner in the development upon the project’s reaching stabilization. Through the guidance of its attorneys, NWGHA closed on its most financially feasible and most profitable housing development project in its history resulting in NWGHA’s reaching its highest level of sustained financial stability since its creation.
A key area of focus in the Brinson Askew Berry firm's Public and Affordable Housing Group is the representation of public housing authorities in connection with RAD and other LIHTC affordable housing developments seeking to preserve and enhance a public housing authority’s housing needs and housing stock.
If you have any questions about affordable housing or LIHTC developments, please contact Stewart Duggan or William Richardson in the firm's Public and Affordable Housing Group.