Biography
Debbie Gezon’s real estate practice encompasses affordable housing and multifamily lending, real estate finance, commercial leasing, and real estate development transactions. While based in the firm’s Los Angeles office, she handles real estate matters throughout the country. She is a member of the firm’s Real Estate + Development Group.
Affordable Housing Lending
Debbie has extensive experience in all types of affordable housing lending transactions, including construction and permanent financing, tax-exempt bond financing, tax credit transactions, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac loan and credit enhancement transactions, Affordable Housing Program (AHP) loan transactions, 236 decouplings, and other mortgage lending programs.
She has assisted lenders with financing transactions for affordable housing projects throughout the United States, including a $132 million development of a multi-use tower project in San Francisco, a $28 million development of a multifamily project in Denver, a $38 million mixed use development under a ground lease from the City of Los Angeles, and a $66 million Freddie Mac bond credit enhancement transaction for a project in Honolulu.
Real Estate – Leasing and Transactions
Debbie assists landlords and tenants with leasing retail, commercial, and industrial space. She negotiates and drafts lease agreements. She assisted an international Internet travel service with its office space lease and assisted another client with the leasing of a 135,000-square-foot building in Pomona, California.
Debbie also handles property sale and purchase transactions, contracts, and financing, often involving multi-million dollar retail and commercial space. She recently represented an owner in the acquisition and financing of a major retail store in San Francisco.
Real Estate - Development
Debbie provides a full range of services to clients for their real estate development efforts, from negotiations, to contract drafting, to financing. She has assisted real estate owners and developers with a variety of projects. On behalf of a property owner, she played a key role in the negotiation and drafting of architectural, supplier and construction management agreements for the installation of an observation deck on a skyscraper in California, a project that has become a tourist destination. She also assisted in the negotiation and drafting of the property management agreement of the observation deck space.
Previously, Debbie was in-house counsel at Fannie Mae and in-house counsel for a privately-held company with significant real estate holdings. She also spent several years as a commercial bankruptcy lawyer, and clerked for the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Northern District of Illinois.