Mather Joins BRIDGE Housing
Jim Mather has been named chief investment officer at BRIDGE Housing, effective June 3. He will be responsible for developing and pursuing the overall capital strategy for the company, including several enterprise-level capital-raising initiatives as well as securing project-level debt and equity for BRIDGE developments.
The industry veteran joins BRIDGE from Housing Trust Silicon Valley, where he has served as chief lending officer since 2013. Previously, he was the interim director of finance for East Bay Asian Local Development Corp. and has held various senior roles in community development banking at Union Bank, Bank of America, and U.S. Bank, where he originated more than $2 billion in loans and investments for affordable housing and oversaw the asset management of large national affordable housing portfolios.
Headquartered in San Francisco, BRIDGE Housing has participated in the development of more than 17,000 homes in California, Oregon, and Washington.
Red Stone Equity Partners Expands West Coast Team
Red Stone Equity Partners has named Kevin Welsh as senior vice president of acquisitions, West region, to support the company’s growth.
The firm recently closed a $74 million California multi-investor low-income housing tax credit (LIHTC) investment fund furthering the company’s commitment to help address the statewide affordable housing crisis.
Welsh is based out of Red Stone’s San Diego office and will focus on the origination, acquisition, financial underwriting, partnership structuring, and syndication of affordable housing and historic tax credit investments in the western part of the United States with particular emphasis on Arizona, California, Nevada, New Mexico, Oregon, and Washington.
He brings more than 10 years of LIHTC investment experience, including direct, proprietary, and multi-investor executions. Prior to joining Red Stone, Welsh worked for Wells Fargo Bank, managing affordable housing tax credit investments.
The Annex Group Announces Promotion
Sam Hurley has been promoted to CFO at The Annex Group, a leading student and affordable housing developer. Hurley sources debt and equity platforms for upcoming developments, while overseeing all finance and accounting functions and navigating existing projects through the closing process.
Previously, Hurley served as the director of finance, where he played a significant role in the company’s growth and overall impact on emerging communities. He financed over $50 million in new developments, including a 146-unit affordable housing transaction and a 118-unit purpose-built, multifamily housing complex that served as one of the first off-campus properties to be financially structured leveraging the recently implemented Investing in Opportunity Act.
In his new role, Hurley is responsible for identifying optimal debt and equity candidates, developing the company’s financial and operational strategy, and managing the capital and budgeting processes.
Headquartered in Indianapolis, The Annex Group has overseen nearly $1 billion in commercial projects including redevelopment and ground-up construction.
Squire Patton Boggs Adds to Team
Michael A. Winter, a veteran of the District of Columbia Housing Finance Agency (DCHFA), has joined Squire Patton Boggs as of counsel in the firm’s public and infrastructure finance practice, based in Washington D.C.
Winter spent nearly two decades at DCHFA, most recently as interim general counsel. Throughout his tenure, he held a number of leadership roles, and his core responsibilities included providing legal advice for structuring single-family and both traditional and innovatively structured multifamily housing revenue bond transactions, including transactions credit-enhanced under HUD’s Risk-Share Program and by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, as well as unrated, unenhanced direct placement bonds and tax-exempt loans.
With a team of more than 60 infrastructure and finance lawyers, Squire Patton Boggs has one of the largest public finance practices in the United States.
Commonwealth Grows Development Team
Following a merger with long-time partner Mirus Partners last year, Commonwealth Cos. has added four members to its development team and a senior vice president to help lead the construction division. Additionally, an executive vice president was recently made an equity partner within the construction and development companies.
Carlen Williams has joined the team as vice president of development, focusing her efforts in Alabama and Louisiana. She is responsible for affordable housing developments that use a variety of public and private financing sources to build upon inherent neighborhood value and help communities reach full potential. Williams was previously employed with a private developer and the Alabama Housing Authority, where she played a large role in its first agency redevelopment that is still thriving 10 years later.
Jorge Aguirre has also joined the company in the role of vice president of development, where he will locate development opportunities primarily in Florida, Georgia, North Carolina, and South Carolina. Prior to his employment with Commonwealth, he worked for some of the largest owners of affordable housing across the United States. He also participated in the financial closing of a 386-unit $90 million LIHTC development in Puerto Rico that, at the time, was considered the single, largest 9% transaction in the country.
Daniel Kroetz has been named senior vice president of development and is responsible for the leadership and oversight of development operations for Commonwealth Development. He will work closely with the developers and development services staff throughout the development process. Kroetz has over 18 years of development experience, most recently focusing on acquisitions and development opportunities in new markets. In his previous role, he was responsible for sourcing and securing acquisition and financing for over 3,500 units of affordable housing and approximately $500 million in development over an 11-year period.
Kristine Giornalista has taken on the newly created role of vice president of asset management. She is responsible for monitoring the performance of Commonwealth’s affordable housing portfolio, coordinating conversion to permanent financing for new developments, and managing the disposition of projects reaching the end of their compliance period. Prior to joining Commonwealth, Giornalista spent 13 years managing affordable housing developments from project conceptualization to construction close-out.
Christopher Kyte has been hired on to provide general leadership and oversight of construction operations for Commonwealth Construction. As senior vice president, he provides support to project and site management staff during construction. Prior to joining Commonwealth, Kyte worked in design-phase and project management for 18 years with a commercial building contractor, focused primarily on the construction of health-care facilities and corporate headquarters.
In January, Brent Schumacher, executive vice president of Commonwealth Construction, was made an equity partner of the construction and development companies. He has over 20 years of construction and development experience and has been employed with Commonwealth for over 10 years.
AMCAL Announces Executive Promotions
AMCAL has announced two staff promotions to further support the California-based developer’s enterprise strategy, including an emphasis on the company’s growth and expansion.
Michael McCloud has been named vice president of asset management. He joined AMCAL in April 2017 and oversees the company’s multifamily portfolio of more than 7,000 units, which includes affordable, market-rate, and student housing assets across California, Texas, and Washington. He has taken a leadership role in optimizing the value of the portfolio through the refinance, sale, and repositioning of select assets in addition to supporting key strategic functions including market research, project feasibility, operations, and risk management.
Stephen Clarke has been named vice president of AMCAL’s market-rate and student housing division. He was hired eight years ago to launch the new division and is responsible for the production of more than $1 billion in market-rate and student housing in California and Texas.
Nixon Peabody Expands Cooperatives and Condominium Practice
Shakti M. Rhys has joined Nixon Peabody’s cooperatives and condominium practice team as counsel within the firm’s Affordable Housing & Real Estate group.
Rhys, who is based in the firm’s New York City office, focuses her practice in both luxury and affordable for-sale housing.
According to Nixon Peabody, it is the only AmLaw100 firm in New York with a dedicated cooperatives and condominium practice with capabilities in both luxury and affordable for-sale housing.
