Recent News:
Cozen O’Connor has completed its acquisition by merger of Moss & Barnett, one of Minnesota’s leading law firms, adding more than 50 attorneys and bringing the overall roster to over 1,000 attorneys.
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Cozen O’Connor’s Multifamily Housing Finance team has one of the most sophisticated practices in the country, representing a broad array of bank, non-bank, and agency lenders in all major markets and across all multifamily asset types, whether they are middle-market investments, large multi-state portfolios, or block-buster projects involving thousands of units. The practice includes counseling clients who finance every stage of a multifamily project, including acquisition financing for development sites, construction loans, bridge finance, and finally permanent financing with team members who have some of the deepest experience with Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac in the nation. Our dedicated team of seasoned attorneys handles multifamily transactions for market rate housing, targeted affordable housing, senior housing, student housing, manufactured housing, and more, which are financed with portfolio loans, securitized loans, bridge loans, credit facilities, tax-exempt bonds, and other affordable housing assistance programs.
Our attorneys advise on a full range of nonstandard transaction structures as well, including tenancies-in-common, forward and reverse 1031 exchanges, ground leases, land trusts, preferred equity, cross-collateralization, partial and fractured condominiums, phased projects, investment funds, and joint ventures.
This accomplished team is skilled in the affordable housing space, closing transactions with Section 8 Housing Assistance Payment (HAP) contracts, tax abatements, tax exempt bond credit enhancements, tax exempt bond securitizations (TEBS), low-income housing tax credits (LIHTC), historic tax credits (HTC), and regulatory and land use restriction agreements.
We are also well versed in senior housing, advising on deals involving independent living properties, assisted living properties, and properties with skilled nursing and memory care facilities, a tremendous compliment to the firm’s sophisticated Health Care & Life Sciences Practice. Our attorneys have a comprehensive understanding of the senior housing sector, regulatory frameworks, operational practices, and organizational structures.
Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae
Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae lenders rely on our attorneys to advise on a wide variety of regularly evolving matters ranging from financial to regulatory to legal. Cozen O’Connor is among the nation’s leading law firms representing lenders and servicers in the agency lending space, where specific knowledge and a proven track record with agency lending programs are critical for providing gold standard legal representation. Our Multifamily Housing Finance practice has guided Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae lenders through more than 9,000 loan and servicing transactions, spanning every state in the country and every product line.
We partner with clients to navigate high-volume deals, multifaceted individual transactions, and multistate loan pool transactions, delivering creative solutions unique to each client’s needs.
Our lawyers have close relationships with legal, production, underwriting, servicing, and management professionals at both agencies. A senior member of the practice serves on the Freddie Mac Multifamily Legal Advisory Council, working with the organization’s legal division to help share and refine legal documentation and loan requirements to address legal and industry developments, engaging with pivotal trends that keep our clients at the forefront of multifamily housing finance.
Our attorneys also serve as single counsel to a number of mortgage banks and to Freddie Mac as part of Freddie Mac’s Small Balance Loan (SBL) program.
And a number of the practice’s attorneys participate in Fannie Mae’s Legal Issues Forum, actively shaping the conversation around programmatic and legal developments within the industry.
Non-Agency Lenders
Leveraging Cozen O’Connor’s nearly 100-attorney strong Real Estate Practice, which has deep experience with developers, operators, and equity investors, we are extremely well positioned to counsel lenders from the perspective of a multifamily owner. Team members work closely with underwriters identifying diligence risks from entitlements, construction agreements, landlord/tenant regulatory regimes, and tax incentive programs. Whether a lender is looking at financing a land loan/development loan, ground-up construction, bridge finance, rescue capital through mezz or preferred equity or permanent debt, our team adds value each step of the way.
Loan Servicing
The Multifamily Housing Finance practice possesses best-in-class, comprehensive knowledge of Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae servicing requirements and has been selected by master servicers of Freddie Mac securitizations to represent sub-servicers in consent transactions. Additionally, our team members represent national banks, CMBS, and CLO servicers and private lenders in connection with complex workouts, litigation, and challenges faced in bankruptcy.
The team assists clients with servicing matters that arise after loan closure, including loan assumptions, transfers of ownership, leases, condemnations, partial releases, collateral modifications, and loan modifications.