Alliant Communities Names Director of Affordable Housing
Allison Levy has joined Alliant Communities as director of affordable housing. She will oversee the execution of the company’s affordable real estate development projects and play a pivotal role in acquisition activities, including identifying and evaluating new opportunities.
With nearly a decade of experience in affordable housing, Levy has been involved in the entitlement, financing, or construction of over 4,200 units. She has managed a diverse array of projects, from preserving and rehabilitating existing housing across eight states to constructing new senior, family, and permanent supportive housing in California.
Most recently, she served as senior project manager at Meta Housing and previously held project management roles at Community Development Partners and Preservation Partners Development. Earlier in her career, Levy held positions in government and community affairs for nonprofit and professional associations and is a licensed attorney in New York.
Hudson Valley Property Group Announces Moves
Hudson Valley Property Group (HVPG), a leading affordable housing preservation company, has announced seven internal promotions and new hires to support the firm’s next era of growth.
The recent moves include the addition of three new professionals to the asset management team:
Taylor Davis, senior asset manager, will oversee the financial and operational performance of HVPG’s assets in the Pacific Northwest and West Coast markets. With previous roles at TruAmerica Multifamily, Oaktree Capital, The Irvine Co., and Lowe Enterprises, Davis brings expertise in asset repositioning and regulatory compliance.
Paul McDade, asset manager, will be responsible for financial reporting, budget monitoring, and asset performance for select assets in HVPG’s portfolio. He joins HVPG from Fairstead, where he oversaw a national portfolio of 5,000 multifamily units and managed acquisitions efforts. Earlier, he served as a senior associate at Capright, an international commercial real estate advisory firm.
Max Wofse, asset management analyst, will support the operational and financial performance of HVPG’s portfolio. He joins the firm from Olive Tree Holdings, where he helped support the asset management department with oversight of a 10,000-unit multifamily portfolio.
In addition, four members of HVPG’s acquisitions team have been promoted:
Gleb Lerman, managing director—investments, joined HVPG in 2022 as director of acquisitions and has since bolstered the firm’s capabilities by expanding capital partnerships and establishing strategic relationships with property owners. He played a key role in acquiring two large portfolios totaling over 7,000 units. Lerman previously founded a real estate investment startup focused on affordable homeownership, served as vice president of acquisitions at L+M Development Partners, and held advisory roles at CBRE and Miller Cicero.
Ryan Zucker, senior acquisitions analyst, has played a pivotal role in overseeing agency and financial approvals and due diligence processes for new acquisitions during his two years at HVPG. Previously, he was an underwriting analyst at the Community Preservation Corp., focusing on the underwriting and closing of Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae affordable multifamily mortgage transactions.
Jake Taft, senior acquisitions analyst, joined HVPG in 2022 and has since navigated multiple diligence and approval processes with internal and external stakeholders. He recently served as the lead analyst for the acquisition of Northgate in Camden, New Jersey, one of HVPG’s most complex projects to date. Prior to joining HVPG, Taft was an analyst at RAL Cos.
Lucas Fanning, senior acquisitions analyst, has been with HVPG for over two years, during which he has been instrumental in the evaluation, due diligence, and closing of a large portfolio acquisition spanning thousands of units and multiple states. Before HVPG, he was an assistant project manager at Orton Development in the San Francisco Bay Area, focusing on industrial, office and mixed-use commercial properties.
Merritt Community Capital Promotes Two
Nedrah Barnes has been elevated to chief financial officer at Merritt Community Capital.
Barnes, who previously served as finance director, will continue to manage Merritt’s funds and oversee the organization’s financial health and plan for its future. She has been with Merritt for nine years.
David Eisenman has been promoted from senior acquisitions manager to associate director of acquisitions after four years with Merritt.
Based in Los Angeles, Eisenman will be focused on building on its existing relationships and forging new ones with mission-aligned partners, particularly in Southern California, as well as executing and expanding Merritt's proprietary investor fund platform and project-specific investments throughout the state.
Merritt is a mission-oriented affordable housing funder and low-income housing tax credit serving California.
LISC Green Welcomes First President
The Local Initiatives Support Corp. (LISC) has named John Moon as the first president of LISC Green, the implementing entity for its funding from the federal Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund (GGRF).
LISC is one of five partners in Power Forward Communities, a coalition that was awarded $2 billion as part of GGRF's $14 billion National Clean Investment Fund. The other partners are Enterprise Community Partners, Habitat for Humanity, Rewiring America, and United Way Worldwide.
LISC will use its share of the funding to finance energy-efficient affordable housing, fuel green jobs, and provide technical assistance to help local organizations advance healthy, resilient community development projects.
Most recently, Moon served as senior vice president and sustainability philanthropy leader at Wells Fargo, where he focused on grants and investments to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, support racial equity, and advance economic opportunity. He previously helped drive community affairs strategies at both the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. and Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco.
Nixon Peabody Expands Real Estate Team
The Nixon Peabody law firm has expanded its affordable housing and real estate practice with three new members.
Josie Morris, counsel, has joined the New York City office with more than a decade of experience representing developers, owners, and institutional investors in all aspects of commercial real estate transactions. She has worked in both private practice and in-house counsel roles and will focus primarily on our affordable housing real estate work at the firm.
Morris guides clients through every stage of real estate transactions, including acquisitions, dispositions, joint ventures, leasing, and financing. She brings extensive experience across all asset classes, with a particular emphasis on multifamily and affordable housing properties
David Barksdale, partner, and Joe Bini, counsel, are in Nixon Peabody’s Los Angeles office.
Barksdale brings more than 35 years of experience in advising lender and borrower clients. His practice focuses on a wide range of complex real estate transactions, including structured and syndicated finance, acquisitions and dispositions, joint ventures, project finance, workouts and restructurings, and development and construction. He works with clients across industries to structure, negotiate, and finance joint-venture investments.
Bini focuses his commercial real estate transactional practice on advising banks, institutional investors, private equity groups, life insurance companies, pension funds, and others in their finance matters, including originations and workouts of real estate secured loans and joint-venture equity investments for construction, acquisition, senior, mezzanine, and preferred financing arrangements.
