Jeanne Marie Coronado has a reputation for innovation.
“Luckily a lot of my clients are open to really innovative structures that they've never heard of before,” says Coronado, vice president of debt and structured finance for CBRE Affordable Housing.
Since she joined CBRE in 2017, she has been involved in over $1.5 billion in financing for affordable housing developments throughout the country. Although Coronado does work on traditional low-income housing tax credit (LIHTC) transactions, she specializes in helping clients structure non-LIHTC executions, particularly leveraging tax-exempt bond financings outside of the 4 percent LIHTC program.
For example, in March, CBRE provided $71 million in low-interest, permanent loans to the Homekey portfolio owned by the Housing Authority of the City of Los Angeles (HACLA).
These permanent loans are fixed at just 4.53%. That’s significantly lower than other permanent financing options available at the time, says Coronado, thanks to the tax-exempt bonds issued by HACLA and a credit enhancement from Fannie Mae.
The portfolio comprises eight properties—including a former hotel—redeveloped through California’s Homekey grant program. The eight properties total 459 units of permanent supportive affordable housing for unhoused families experiencing or at risk of homelessness in Los Angeles.
“She never hesitates to pick up the phone to brainstorm ideas and determine if there might be more advantageous ways to structure a transaction,” says Kent Neumann, founding member of the Tiber Hudson law firm. He worked with Coronado on financing the Homekey portfolio.
Another recent transaction includes a low-interest loan. This time the financing used recycled tax-exempt private-activity bonds to convert a vacant assisted living facility into 108 new units of affordable housing in Bellevue, Washington. The transaction had to close in just a few months before the bonds expired.
“Without her tenacity and skillful orchestration, this transformative project would not have reached fruition,” says Alec Thomas, head of development for Great Expectations, which started the adaptive-reuse project in February and will finish later this year.
