Practices

Joseph S. Lieber

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617.224.0605

Education

University of Michigan Law School, JD, 1996, magna cum laude

University of Michigan, BA, 1986, Class Honors

Joseph Lieber's practice focuses on structuring and closing complex multi-phased financing transactions in connection with affordable housing and other community development projects. He has deep experience working with Low-Income Housing Tax Credits and New Market Tax Credits – including a number of projects in which these two types of tax credits have been used side by side – as well as projects utilizing a variety of other Federal, state and local funding programs. Most of his work is on the developer's side of the table, but Joseph has also represented commercial lenders, municipalities and regional HOME consortia. His work around the table has sharpened Joseph's ability to recognize and address the key issues facing the various parties to an affordable housing or community development transaction.

Joseph has a wide range of general real estate experience, including real property purchase and sale transactions (including the acquisition of property from public sources through land disposition processes), zoning and permitting matters, conveyancing, and contracting for design and construction services. He has particular expertise in Boston Redevelopment Authority matters such as Article 80 applications and MGL Chapter 121A applications, and in complex condominium structuring.

In his pro bono work, Joseph has served as a volunteer mediator in small claims court and negotiated office leases for nonprofit clients.

BAR ADMISSIONS

    • Massachusetts
  • Over the course of the past decade, has represented partnership of multiple community development corporations (CDCs) and one for-profit developer in connection with comprehensive redevelopment of the Jackson Square neighborhood in Boston (Jamaica Plain and Roxbury), including representation relating to infrastructure development and master planning, acquisition of project sites from the MBTA, MassDOT, DCAMM and other public agencies, negotiation of complex land use agreements with public agencies, zoning the individual development projects, and structuring and closing of financing for individual development projects involving mixed commercial and residential uses, and utilizing a variety of tax credits and other local, state, and federal funding sources
  • Represented joint venture of for-profit developer and local CDC in connection with all aspects of structuring the multi-phased redevelopment and adaptive reuse of a former Roman Catholic Archdiocese campus in Jamaica Plain, utilizing New Markets Tax Credits, Low-Income Housing Tax Credits, Section 1602 Exchange Funds, TCAP Funds and other financing sources within a complex multi-tiered condominium structure
  • Represented Boston (Jamaica Plain) CDC in connection with structuring the joint venture redevelopment of former nursing home as a facility that addresses two separate needs of homeless persons – the delivery of medical services and the provision of rental housing
  • Represented for-profit developer of artist housing in connection with the acquisition from the Boston Redevelopment Authority of a historic building in the South End of Boston and several surrounding vacant parcels, and the construction on the combined site of a three-building, 55-unit mixed-income, mixed-use condominium project with roughly 50% affordable "artist live/work" units, 11 artist rental studios and a street-level art gallery space
  • Represented Dorchester Bay Economic Development Corporation in the New Markets Tax Credit-financed redevelopment of the former Pearl Meat plant in Boston’s Dorchester neighborhood as a 36,000 square foot shared-use commercial kitchen and multi-tenant food production small business center. Among the various sources leveraged through the NMTC structure were City of Boston Section 108 funds, Choice Neighborhoods funds, a Massworks grant and various Federal and State grant funds
  • Represented Our Lady of the Elms College in the New Markets Tax Credit-financed development of a new state-of-the-art Center for Natural and Health Sciences on its Chicopee, Massachusetts campus. We were able to repurpose an existing 501(c)(3) affiliate of the College to serve as QALICB and owner of the project through a master lease structure. The College served as leverage lender, using MassDevelopment bond funds and capital campaign proceeds to fund the leverage loan
  • Represented leading Lowell, MA nonprofit community development corporation in connection with approximately half a dozen Low-Income Housing Tax Credit projects over the course of the past decade
  • Represented a Boston-based bank in connection with numerous loans – including various types of construction, permanent and/or bridge financing, as well as tax-exempt bond-financed loans – for the renovation and new construction of affordable housing (rental and homeownership), transitional housing facilities, and cohousing projects located throughout the Greater Boston area
  • Represented several Massachusetts municipalities and regional HOME consortia in connection with HOME funding to developers of affordable housing and the negotiation of intercreditor arrangements with other project funders
  • Represented national developer in multi-phased HOPE VI revitalization of public housing in Frederick, MD
  • Represented partnership of for-profit developer and Boston CDC in connection with five housing phases (to date), including both rental and homeownership, in a multi-phased redevelopment of a large former State hospital site in Boston (Mattapan), MA
  • American Bar Association, Member (2002-present)
  • Massachusetts Real Estate Bar Association, Member (2006-present)
  • Jamaica Plain Children's Soccer, Jamaica Plain Youth Soccer and Massachusetts Futsal Association, Volunteer Soccer Coach and Manager (scattered years)
  • Jamaica Plain Regan Youth League, Volunteer Baseball Coach (scattered years) and Board Member (2005-present)
  • West Roxbury Community Center, Volunteer Basketball Coach (scattered years)
  • Curtis Hall Basketball League (Jamaica Plain), Volunteer Basketball Coach (scattered years) (2015)
  • Occasional Guest Lecturer on Affordable Housing Topics, MIT Center for Real Estate, Cambridge, MA, and Boston University Law School, Boston, MA
  • Panelist on 461 Walnut Avenue Permitting Issues, Urban Land Institute's Housing and Economic Development Council – April 10, 2012
  • Presenter, "Legal Issues in Affordable Housing" Federal Home Loan Bank of Boston (FHLBB), Affordable Housing Competition Organizational Meeting – February 29, 2012
  • Panelist on Transportation-Oriented Development, Boston Bar Association (BBA) Real Estate and Land Use Committee Meeting – January 30, 2012
  • Panelist on New Markets Tax Credit and Affordable Housing, BBA Affordable Housing Committee Meeting – September 15, 2011
  • Recipient, Civic Leadership Award from Move Massachusetts 2000 for work in litigation involving the Massachusetts Turnpike Authority