Avanath Adds Executive Vice President, Opens Two Offices
Keith Harris has been named executive vice president of acquisitions at Avanath Capital Management, a private real estate investment manager. The firm also announced the opening of offices in Chicago and Alexandria, Va.
Harris is responsible for overseeing the firm’s acquisitions across the country, including all aspects of the acquisition process.He joins Avanath after serving as a principal at CKG Advisors, an investment advisory firm focused on the multifamily industry. Harris was also a senior vice president of Bozzuto Group, a prominent multifamily real estate company, where he was responsible for capital raising and institutional relationships. Earlier in his career, he worked at The Laramar Group, Heitman Capital Management, and JMB Realty Corp.
Avanath leaders said the new regional offices are the result of the firm’s growing assets in Chicago, where the firm owns 1,063 units, and the Washington, D.C., metro area, where it has 1,169 units. The firm owns 79 assets across 12 states and 41 different cities.
Anton DevCo Names Managing Partners
Multifamily housing developer and owner Anton DevCo has expanded ownership by granting a minority stake in the firm to two longtime executives.
Chief investment officer Trisha Malone and Andy Davidson, who oversees development and construction at Anton and also serves as president of Anton Building Co., have been named managing partners and granted minority positions in the firm. Malone joined the company in 2000, and Davidson was hired in 2005.
Anton founder Steve Eggert retains controlling position.
Headquartered in Walnut Creek, Calif., the firm develops, builds, and operates apartment communities throughout California. It has developed more than 60 apartment communities with over 10,000 units in the state.
DCHFA Announces CFO
Steve Clinton has been named CFO at the District of Columbia Housing Finance Agency. He brings more than 30 years of experience in the U.S. housing finance and policy sector.
Prior to joining the agency, Clinton served as a senior adviser at the U.S. Treasury Department, where he contributed to the housing reform plan released last year. He also spent 25 years at Freddie Mac, where he worked in both the front and back offices, covering capital markets, finance, operations, and technology.
His range of experience in financial transactions, operations, and leadership led him to the role of senior vice president of conservatorship for Freddie Mac in the aftermath of the 2008 financial crisis. As part of his senior vice president role, he had an executive role in the multiyear development of the Common Securitization Platform and the formation of the Freddie Mac/Fannie Mae joint venture called the Common Securitizations Solutions, which now performs the issuance and bond administration functions for the two agencies’ multitrillion dollar mortgage-backed securities.
Nixon Peabody Announces Promotions
The Nixon Peabody law firm has announced its 2020 partner class, which includes several attorneys in its affordable housing and community development finance practices.
Dana Roper represents nonprofit and for-profit owners in acquiring, constructing, developing, and preserving multifamily affordable and supportive housing. Based in New York City, she works on all aspects of complex financing transactions, including acquisitions, tax exemptions, joint ventures, regulatory matters, and debt and equity financing. She is a former attorney for the Department of Housing and Urban Development.
Dara Newman Histed co-leads Nixon Peabody’s General Real Estate Transactions team and represents developers, land owners, and investors in commercial real estate transactions, ranging from complex tax credit and affordable housing deals to market-rate housing, senior housing, and land-use matters. Her areas of focus include counseling clients through the acquisition, financing, and development of multifamily housing as well as negotiating joint-venture agreements. She is based in Washington, D.C.
Sonia Nayak is in the community development finance practice in Los Angeles. Her focus is on real estate development and financing, including New Markets Tax Credits, affordable housing, and commercial lending. Much of her work involves bringing private capital to high-impact community development projects in California and nationwide. These projects include affordable multifamily rental housing complexes, health-care facilities, charter schools, cultural and community centers, and research and technology incubator facilities.
Coats Rose Elevates Affordable Housing Attorneys
Two lawyers have become directors at Coats Rose, a transactional and litigation law firm focused on development. Both are in the firm’s affordable housing and community development practice.
S. Shannon Davis Hunter, who is based in Houston, represents public housing authorities, nonprofit and for-profit housing developers, syndicators, and investors with leveraging various products, including HOPE VI funds, low-income housing tax credits, private-activity tax-exempt bonds, investment syndications, and conventional loans to finance their projects.
F. Christopher Wootten, who is based in New Orleans, represents commercial lenders, SBA-licensed small business investment companies, community development entities, tax credit investors, nonprofit corporations, business owners, and developers on various transactions involving commercial finance, government incentives, public private partnerships, and real estate development.
MASS Design Group Expands Community Development and Housing Expertise
Katie Swenson, a design leader, researcher, and educator, has joined MASS Design Group as a senior principal.
She previously served as vice president of design and sustainability at Enterprise Community Partners. Swenson founded Enterprise’s National Design Initiative, directing the Affordable Housing Design Leadership Institute, the Pre-Development Design Grant, and the Rose Fellowship.
A 2001 Rose Fellow herself, Swenson spent her three-year fellowship in Charlottesville, Va., at Piedmont Housing, a regional nonprofit that creates housing and community development opportunities for very low- to moderate-income families and individuals. Following her fellowship, she founded the Charlottesville Community Design Center.
She is the author of the forthcoming publication, “Design With Love,” stories from 20 years of the Enterprise Community Partners Rose Fellowship, with photography by Harry Connolly. The book will be published in August.
MASS Design Group is a design collaborative dedicated to delivering architecture that promotes justice and human dignity through research, design, and advocacy. Founded in 2008, MASS has 30 projects built or in construction, including the Butaro District Hospital in Burera, Rwanda, and the National Memorial for Peace and Justice in Montgomery, Ala.
Transactions Team Joins Ballard Spahr in Phoenix
Ballard Spahr has expanded its nationally recognized real estate practice with the arrival of Michael J. Ostermeyer and Karen DaCosta Perzan in its Phoenix office. They will advise clients across the commercial real estate sector on acquisitions, development, financing, and portfolio transactions.
Ostermeyer joins the firm as a partner. He has business training and more than 25 years of experience representing owners and investors in real estate finance and development matters. He focuses on three main areas of practice: guiding public infrastructure projects; developing commercial, institutional, and industrial real estate; and advising on real estate portfolios.
Perzan, of counsel, has worked on the buy and sell side of real estate transactions across the country. She also advises on financing and leasing transactions, including EB-5 funding.
Bright Power Announces Promotion
Andrea Mancino has been elevated to executive vice president of the New York business unit at Bright Power.
She was previously director of new construction, where she managed ground-up new construction, oversaw long-term strategic planning for the new construction unit, and commissioned projects. Mancino co-founded the division after seeing an opportunity to expand Bright Power’s offerings to build green multifamily buildings from their conception. In her new role, she is pairing her technical expertise in building sustainable, high-performing projects with an ability to create and execute efficient business processes.
Tiber Hudson Named Top Multifamily Underwriter's Counsel
Tiber Hudson has been named the No. 1 underwriter’s counsel in the nation by Thomson Reuters, based on the number of multifamily bond issues completed in 2019. The law firm also topped the field in 2018.
According to Thomson Reuters’ 2019 year-end analysis, Tiber Hudson ranked first nationally in the role of underwriter’s counsel and bond purchaser’s counsel, serving as counsel for 100 publicly offered bond transactions totaling more than $1.9 billion in aggregate principal amount. Both figures represent significant increases over Tiber Hudson’s 2018 totals of 58 transactions and more than $1 billion in aggregate principal amount, said the law firm.
Founded in 2017, Tiber Hudson provides legal services in all aspects of tax-exempt and taxable debt financings for multifamily housing and health-care facilities around the country.
