Glenn Petherick Author Archives

In interviewing developers and owners for this month’s theme article on preservation transactions (“Preserving,” p. 24), I was struck by the variety of properties acquired and renovated and the different ways that deals are structured.

Two recent decisions by the U.S. Tax Court provide some additional items for thought for parties structuring transactions proposing to utilize certain kinds of state tax credits, according to Washington, D.C. tax attorney Jerry Breed, a partner at Bryan Cave LLP.

In the deal, which featured multiple “firsts,” POAH, a nonprofit affordable housing developer and owner based in Boston, acquired and is renovating a Providence, R.I. apartment building in order to preserve it as long-term affordable rental housing for seniors.

In Kansas City, Mo., the owner of three award-winning affordable multifamily rental properties is fighting an attempt by local officials to possibly condemn the buildings and take them by eminent domain on the grounds that they have caused social blight to the community.

A comprehensive tax reform plan released on February 26 by House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Dave Camp (R-Mich.) caused sighs of relief by some tax credit advocates and dismay by others. Yet the document, while keeping the topic of tax reform alive, faces an uncertain fate in the weeks and months ahead and may be preempted by action in the Senate on extenders legislation.

The Obama Administration’s FY 2015 budget proposes tax law changes relating to federal low-income housing, new markets, and energy tax credits. Nearly all were in the White House’s FY 2014 budget request.

When it comes to green retrofits of existing affordable multifamily rental housing properties to reduce energy and water consumption and costs, the good news is there are well-established procedures on how to approach these jobs and numerous industry and governmental initiatives that promise significant further advances.

The possibility that Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac might dump a massive volume of existing low-income housing tax credit (LIHTC) investments into the market at some point in a fire sale is virtually non-existent now, even with their return to substantial profitability and various legislative proposals calling for phasing out the two mortgage companies.

Owners and property managers are taking different approaches to incorporating energy and water efficiency features in affordable multi- family rental housing, particularly in retrofits of existing projects. A look at four organizations around the country illustrates this.

An energy audit, an assessment of the energy needs and efficiency of a building or group of buildings, can be informative for an affordable multifamily rental housing development as well as provide a roadmap for the most cost-effective improvements to make.

A demonstration project making major energy and water efficiency improvements at a 274-unit affordable multifamily rental housing development in southern California is a possible model for other similar “stand-alone” green retrofit jobs.

In North Easton, Mass., 30 miles south of Boston, Beacon Communities LLC has created a unique mixed-income apartment community through the rehabilitation and adaptive re-use of eight historic buildings dating between 1852 and 1928 that were once part of the Ames Shovel Works factory complex.