Team Closes Largest Low-Income Housing Tax Credit Transaction Ever Done
The transaction involved the rehabilitation and construction of 4,132 public housing units in 33 projects in Puerto Rico.
A team of Holland & Knight attorneys closed the largest low-income housing tax credit transaction ever done. The transaction involved the rehabilitation and redevelopment of 4,132 public housing units in 33 projects in Puerto Rico. The total size of the transaction approaches $700 million, including more than $200 million in equity and nearly $500 million in tax-exempt bond financing.
The transaction represented an enormous public-private partnership, involving equity raised by the client, tax-exempt bonds underwritten by a major financial institution, various forms of U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) public housing assistance, low-income housing tax credits, and participation by the Puerto Rico Department of Housing, Government Development Bank and Housing Finance Authority. The deal was announced at a press conference by the governor of Puerto Rico and the deputy secretary of HUD. Click here to read the press release.
Structuring a partnership and limited liability company to develop, own and operate more than 4,000 housing units required multiple disciplines and tasks - tax, partnership, real estate, bond financing, questions of sovereign immunity, and secured transactions expertise. The transaction was structured to take the maximum advantage of - and avoid some pitfalls created by - the Housing and Economic Recovery Act of 2008, which was enacted on July 30.
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