John Peck, who serves as Chairman of NH&RA’s Board of Directors, has moved to Coats Rose law firm as part of the firm’s expansion into its new Cincinnati office. Peck Will be joined at Coats Rose by several colleagues including Alysse Hollis, Ronald Bell, and Robert Bruns, establishing Coats Rose’s new affordable housing and community development practice in Cincinnati, effective Aug. 1, 2017.
“Expanding our affordable housing and community development practice beyond our current geographical footprint is part of our goal of establishing a national affordable housing practice,” said Barry J. Palmer, director and head of the affordable housing and community development practice at Coats Rose. “Their efforts will immediately add tremendous value to Coats Rose’s strong reputation and presence in housing development and finance, and will provide us additional strong bond and tax proficiency in a new market.”
Coats Rose currently has offices in Houston, Dallas, Austin, San Antonio and New Orleans. With the addition of the new Cincinnati location, the firm will expand its affordable housing and community development practice group to 18 attorneys across five offices. Together, the firm will service clients across the country – including Texas, Ohio, Louisiana, Arkansas, Mississippi, Kansas, Colorado, Alabama, Tennessee, Georgia, Wisconsin, Florida, the Carolinas and Washington, D.C.
“Coats Rose’s reputation as a leader in the industry and their existing strength in key geographic markets gives us the perfect environment to continue to provide our clients across the country with innovative legal solutions,” said Hollis.
Hollis has 16 years of experience and focuses her practice on the representation of clients in the development and financing of affordable housing. Her practice includes the structuring and documentation of complex public and private housing finance transactions involving taxable and tax-exempt obligations, federal low-income housing tax credits, state tax credits, and various federal and state subsidies. She routinely serves as bond counsel and underwriter’s counsel on such transactions. Hollis has worked with local governments, underwriters, mortgage bankers, affordable housing developers, nonprofits organizations, HUD officials, GSE’s and banks across the country.
Bell has 23 years of experience and maintains a multidisciplinary practice that encompasses capital markets (public finance, asset securitization, and other capital raising transactions), tax credits, and employee benefits/ERISA and executive compensation. He advises on the tax aspects of structures from a federal tax standpoint on various state and local governmental financings, including single family and multifamily housing financings, hospitals, colleges and universities, charter schools, student housing, prepay electricity and gas financings, airport financings, solid waste and general obligation financings. He regularly serves as special tax counsel to issuers and other bond counsel on various public finance transactions.
Peck has developed or participated in the evolution of most innovative tax exempt multifamily housing finance vehicles for more than 40 years. He has served as bond counsel, underwriter counsel, disclosure counsel, borrower counsel, housing authority counsel and issuer counsel on virtually every type of public and private multifamily housing bond issuance. Peck has extensive experience with enhancement and loan/grant programs with federal, state and local providers.
Bruns has over 35 years of experience representing clients as bond counsel, underwriter’s counsel and disclosure counsel on a wide variety of multifamily housing bond financings across the country. His practice focuses on the structuring and documentation of complex public and private housing finance transactions.
“We are pleased and excited to be joining Coats Rose, a national leader in the affordable housing arena. We look forward to collaborating with our new colleagues as we expand the scope and reach of our practice,” said Bell.
“We have an established relationship, having worked together on numerous deals and share some significant clients,” continued Palmer. “We’re looking forward to sharing our synergies and growing with our new team.”
About Coats Rose, P.C.
Coats Rose is a business transaction and litigation law firm based in Houston with a team of more than 90 attorneys who bring value to clients and perform legal work at the highest standards. For over 30 years, the firm has leveraged its vast legal experience to fulfill clients’ needs in numerous transactions and controversies, spanning construction/surety law, real estate law, affordable housing and community development, public finance, bankruptcy and business reorganization, commercial litigation, corporate and securities, insurance law, intellectual property, government relations, labor and employment law, mergers and acquisitions, tax, wealth planning and preservation, and health care. In addition to its headquarters in Houston, Coats Rose has offices in Dallas, Austin, San Antonio, New Orleans and Cincinnati. Learn more at www.coatsrose.com.
