Real Estate & Finance

Hodgson Russ Helps Client CAO Develop, Finance Low-Income Housing Project

September 8, 2010

Hodgson Russ assisted client Community Action Organization of Erie County, Inc. (CAO) on a $16.25 million development project that will turn a long-vacant orphanage on Buffalo's East Side into St. Martin Village, a low-income housing project comprising 60 housing units and related facilities and grounds. The project involves rehabilitating three architecturally significant buildings, demolishing eight other buildings, and constructing six new buildings. The housing will include units for residents who have vision, hearing, mobility, and other impairments, and St. Martin Village will offer support services for families and other residents through CAO.

Hodgson Russ attorneys, led by Richard B. Dopkins, assisted CAO in securing $1,320,000 annually in low-income housing tax credits from the New York State Division of Housing and Community Renewal, with a total of $13,200,000 in tax credits anticipated. The firm also provided project-financing assistance, negotiating a construction loan not to exceed approximately $9.5 million from KeyBank National Association; a permanent loan of $1 million from Community Preservation Corporation; and secondary loans in varying amounts from the New York State Housing Trust Fund Corporation, the City of Buffalo, and CAO. The firm also assisted St. Martin Village in obtaining, through CAO, a grant from the New York State Urban Initiatives Program Fund and an approximately $1,000,000 Federal Home Loan grant.

In addition to Mr. Dopkins, Hodgson Russ attorneys involved in the project included John P. Amershadian, Brad A. Birmingham, Michelle A. Daubert, Wendy K. Fechter, Laura A. Monte, and Adam W. Perry, among others.