Jerome Garciano

Jerome L. Garciano

Counsel

Jerome L. Garciano

Counsel

  • Overview

    Biography

    Jerome Garciano focuses his practice on real estate transactions and financing, affordable housing, renewable energy, green building, sustainability, and tax credits. Jerome, a member of the firm’s Real Estate + Development Group, represents a range of clients, including lenders, equity investors, owners, and developers, for real estate and project finance transactions.

    Real Estate Development and Finance

    Jerome advises clients in real estate project and finance structuring, and he conducts all related due diligence and transaction documentation. He has extensive experience in assisting clients with finance matters related to development, including handling complex, multi-million dollar loans. He recently represented a national affordable housing lender in connection with a $13 million loan for a 120-unit senior housing U.S. Housing & Urban Development (HUD) Rental Assistance Demonstration (RAD) conversion transaction.

    Affordable Housing and Community Development

    Jerome represents for-profit and non-profit organizations in affordable housing and community development project finance transactions. He assists in coordinating financing from multiple income sources, enabling projects to succeed. He recently represented a local housing authority developer on a $24 million transaction, utilizing low-income housing tax credits, state housing finance agency financing, and state department of housing subordinate debt.

    Renewable Energy and Green Building

    Jerome assists clients with renewable energy, microgrid, and energy efficiency project and finance structuring, due diligence and transaction documentation. He has represented a regional bank on a construction loan financing on a 26MW portfolio of distributed generation photovoltaic solar projects throughout the northeastern United States. He regularly contributes to the firm’s LinkedIn group, R+C Sustainability Practice Center.

    Tax Incentives and Tax Credit Financing

    Jerome advises clients on tax incentives and tax credit financing structures, including tax credits related to low-income housing, historic status, energy investment, and new markets. He provides guidance to clients on all federal and state tax incentives. Jerome has provided assistance with several nonprofit-sponsored real estate transactions financed with New Markets Tax Credit financing, including education, health, and community services facilities. Jerome is a LEED accredited professional and has advised clients on utilizing energy efficiency and renewable energy tax incentives. He recently represented a real estate developer and green builder in the sale and transfer of a state green building tax credit achieving Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) requirements. He also works on tax policy initiatives promoting green energy and real estate development.

    Jerome is a certified public accountant. Prior to becoming a lawyer, he worked as a finance associate at The Community Builders, Inc., a national nonprofit organization, and at Recap Advisors, a nationally recognized affordable housing financial services firm. In addition, he worked for architectural design firms after graduating from architecture school.

    Jerome volunteers with the U.S. Green Building Council’s Legacy Project, which provides a green facilities management training and career track for students and young adults in under-resourced neighborhoods in Boston.
     

  • Experience
    • Experience

      Experience

      • Represented an institutional lender providing a $22 million construction loan to an affiliated group of borrowers to fund the construction costs associated with the design, procurement, and installation of 26 MW commercial rooftop solar array projects for two Fortune 50 companies to be located on 60 commercial buildings in four states and secured by all assets of the borrowers. We advised on respective rights under all contracts with equipment procurement contractors (EPCs), power purchase agreements, renewable energy certificates, agreements relating to federal investment tax credits, interconnection agreements, and maintenance agreements. The contemplated refinancing of this transaction involved the placement of permanent senior loan financing from an institutional lender, a tax credit equity investment (in the form of a "partnership flip," which involved the creation of special purpose entities) from an institutional investor, and the associated intercreditor, interparty, and other related third-party issues.

      • Represented national affordable housing lender on $13 million loan for a 120-unit senior housing U.S. Housing & Urban Development (HUD) Rental Assistance Demonstration (RAD) conversion transaction.

      • Represented an insurance company investor on a series of investment tax credit wind energy projects in Rhode Island. 

      • Represented a local housing authority developer on a $24 million transaction, utilizing low-income housing tax credits, state housing finance agency financing and state department of housing subordinate debt.

      • Represented a regional bank on a construction loan financing on a 26MW portfolio  of distributed generation photovoltaic solar projects throughout the northeastern United States.

      • Represented a real estate developer and green builder in the sale and transfer of a state green building tax credit achieving Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) requirements.

      • Represented a community land trust in its initial formation and for acquisition of community assets for the preservation of affordable housing. 

      • Represented a national bank in its role as a lender for the Cambridge Housing Authority's (CHA) first four Rental Assistance Demonstration (RAD) conversion deals. The bank closed the tax-exempt bond financing for 511 units of public housing conversions under HUD's RAD program. The RAD program was created to give public housing authorities a tool to preserve and improve public housing properties by restructuring HUD subsidies into long-term contracts that facilitate the private financing of improvements. These first four transactions were part of a long-term project to convert all 2,129 of CHA's public housing units to RAD. 

    • Professional Associations

      Professional Associations

      American Bar Association

      American Institute of Architects

      American Institute of Certified Public Accountants

      Boston Bar Association

      Boston Society of Architects
    • Community Involvement

      Community Involvement

      Member of Winchester Housing Partnership Board
  • NEWS + PRESS
    • Presentations

      Presentations

      "Opportunity Zone Update - Understand it Benefits and Complexities," co-presented with Michael J. Kearney Jr. and Brian M. Flaherty, as part of Robinson+Cole's From Soil to Solar: Land Law Development Forum series. (11/13-14/2019)
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        • Opportunity Zone Update - Understand it Benefits and Complexities

        "Opportunity Zone Update - Understand it Benefits and Complexities," co-presented by Michael J. Kearney Jr., Brian M. Flaherty and Jerome L. Garciano, as part of Robinson+Cole's From Soil to Solar: Land Law Development Forum series. (11/13-14/2019)

        Brian Flaherty, Jerome Garciano and Michael Kearney, members of Robinson+Cole’s Opportunity Zone and Impact Investment Practice Team, shared their insights on the latest round of proposed IRS regulations and key lessons learned from recent Opportunity Zone investment deals closed by Robinson+Cole in the program “Opportunity Zone Update - Understand its Benefits and Complexities,” the final From Soil to Solar: Land Law Development Forum in a webinar on November 13, followed by an in-person presentation on November 14, 2019. 


        The Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017 created Opportunity Zones to spur economic development and job creation in certain economically distressed communities by offering tax incentives for private capital investment in real estate and businesses located in those communities. Investors and real estate developers looking to take advantage of these valuable tax benefits offered by the Opportunity Zone program need to understand its rules and complexities. 


      "Inclusive Opportunity Zone Investments for Community Development," presented at the SOCAP19 (Social Capital Markets) conference (10/24/2019)
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        • Inclusive Opportunity Zone Investments for Community Development

        "Inclusive Opportunity Zone Investments for Community Development," presented by Jerome L. Garciano, presented at the SOCAP19 (Social Capital Markets) conference (10/24/2019)

        Real Estate + Development Group member Jerome Garciano presented the program “Inclusive Opportunity Zone Investments for Community Development" at the Social Capital Markets (SOCAP) 2019 conference hosted at San Francisco’s Fort Mason Center for Arts & Culture from October 22-25, 2019. With billions of dollars expected to flow into Opportunity Zones, a critical question is: Who will benefit? Capturing the attention of the U.S. impact investing community over the past two years, Opportunity Zones offer the promise of unlocking transformative capital for low-income communities, but also pose the risk of incentivizing extractive, potentially harmful development.

        Jerome’s workshop offered a technical overview of the Opportunity Zone program, including the frameworks and collaborations intended to embed impact investing to address social and environmental challenges. The discussion explored how the program could intersect with inclusive impact investment, and described various initiatives, looking at workforce housing, grassroots social enterprise incubation, and community economic development through locally-owned, qualified opportunity zone businesses. Approximately 60 people attended his presentation.

        SOCAP19 hosted more than 150 sessions featuring some 500 speakers from across sectors, issue areas and geographies. Since its founding in 2008, Social Capital Markets has convened more the 30,000 impact investors, social entrepreneurs and innovative cross-sector practitioners in support of its mission to foster the intersection of money and meaning, and increase the flow of capital toward social good.


      "Innovative Building Methods and Modular Construction," moderated as part of Boston Harvard Real Estate Alumni Organization's Innovation in Real Estate series (9/10/2019)
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        • Innovative Building Methods and Modular Construction

        "Innovative Building Methods and Modular Construction," presented by Jerome L. Garciano, moderated as part of Boston Harvard Real Estate Alumni Organization's Innovation in Real Estate series (9/10/2019)

        Real Estate + Development Group lawyer Jerome Garciano moderated a luncheon panel discussion on “Innovative Building Methods and Modular Construction” at Robinson+Cole’s Boston office on September 10, 2019. The panel was presented by the Boston Harvard Real Estate Alumni Organization as part of its Innovation in Real Estate series. Panelists included experienced affordable housing developer Bart Mitchell, President & CEO of The Community Builders, the country's largest nonprofit developer of mixed-income housing, and Peter LaBonte, founder of Advanced Building Solutions, a startup focused on off-site construction. They addressed the rapid innovation and expanded use of off-site construction across the real estate industry among other topics. Following their remarks, Jerome led a discussion that explored the broader benefit of off-site construction in the real estate industry as well as in affordable housing.  


      "Massachusetts SMART Program, Federal Opportunity Zones and Green Tax Credits and the Implications for Microgrid," at National Conference on Microgrids in Boston (4/17/2019)

    • News

      R+C in the News

      • April 19, 2019

        Jerome Garciano Presents on the Massachusetts SMART Program at National Conference on Microgrids

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          Jerome Garciano Presents on the Massachusetts SMART Program at National Conference on Microgrids

          Real Estate and Development Group lawyer Jerome Garciano presented a program on the "Massachusetts SMART Program, Federal Opportunity Zones and Green Tax Credits and the Implications for Microgrid" as part of  ACI&#’;s in Boston, Massachusetts on April 17, 2019. Microgrids are quickly becoming a popular trend in energy distribution, expanding the availability of resilient infrastructure, sustainable energy, and independence that can't be achieved by relying on the traditional power grid. Installations such as military bases, hospitals, universities and rural communities are already switching to this method of power supply. Key topics included regulatory framework, strategies for workforce growth, military applications, and California’s historic SB-100, passed in 2018, which has the ambitious goal of making the state’s electricity production emissions-free by 2045.

      • June 12, 2017

        Green Building Event Garners Crowd at R+C’s Boston Office

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          Green Building Event Garners Crowd at R+C’s Boston Office

          About 70 people attended the U.S. Green Building Council Massachusetts Chapter’s “Spring Greenbuild Mixer and Farewell Toast to Grey!” at Robinson+Cole’s Boston office on May 25, 2017, an event sponsored by the firm. The mixer was among the events leading up to Greenbuild 2017, the world’s largest green building conference and expo, which is coming to Boston from Nov. 8 to Nov. 10, 2017. At the mixer, attendees had opportunities for networking, and they learned about the organization’s upcoming events and projects. Real Estate + Development Group lawyer Jerome Garciano, who advises clients on energy efficiency and green building, spoke at the event. Mr. Garciano volunteers with the USGBC’s Legacy Project, which provides a green facilities management training and career track for students and young adults in under-resourced neighborhoods in Boston. The event also honored the work of the chapter’s outgoing Executive Director Grey Lee, who left the organization in May. To learn more about Greenbuild 2017, visit greenbuildexpo.com.

          Click here to view a photo of the event.

      • May 16, 2017

        Real Estate Lawyers Participate in ABA RPTE Spring Symposia

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          Real Estate Lawyers Participate in ABA RPTE Spring Symposia

          Real Estate + Development Group members Karla Chaffee and Jerome Garciano presented on sustainable development during the ABA's Section of Real Property, Trust and Estate Law's (RPTE) Spring Symposia in Denver, Colorado, on April 20-21, 2017. Ms. Chaffee served as the program chair and moderator and Mr. Garciano was a speaker for the program "Get Ready for a New Wave of Sustainable Development and Learn How It Can Work for Business." The session explored mandatory sustainability ordinances and how they differ from a robust, voluntary sustainability program; as well as incentive-based regulations, including tax incentives, and whether or not they are still viable tools in promoting change. Other panelists included Sonrisa Lucero and Jerry Tinianow of the City of Denver Office of Sustainability.

      • April 18, 2016

        Jerome Garciano Hosts Sustainability Event in Boston Office

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          Jerome Garciano Hosts Sustainability Event in Boston Office

          Real estate and development lawyer Jerome L. Garciano hosted Robinson+Cole's first sustainability event in association with the Harvard Real Estate Alumni Organization on April 13, 2016, in the firm's Boston office. The panel included representatives from National Development, Harvard University, Partners HealthCare, the Preservation of Affordable Housing, Inc., and Paradigm Properties. The presenters discussed initiatives their organizations are taking to address sustainability at their properties, including clean energy cogeneration and healthy and sustainable building materials. Over 40 guests attended the program. Click here to view photos.

          Mr. Garciano is co-chair of Robinson+Cole's Sustainability Group.

      • June 5, 2015

        Robinson+Cole Is a Sponsor of NYSAFAH Conference

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          Robinson+Cole Is a Sponsor of NYSAFAH Conference

          Robinson+Cole was a Gold Sponsor of the 16th Annual New York State Affordable Housing (NYSAFAH) Conference on May 13, 2015, in New York City. Members of the firm's Real Estate + Development Group attended the event, including lawyers Andrew L. Kramer, Leigh K. Hughes, Theresa A. Omansky, Jerome L. Garciano, Julia H. Klein, and Lisa C. Riccio and paralegals Margaret L. Bracken, Marilyn I. Bernard, and Sanan Ibne. R+C hosted a booth that featured literature on our affordable housing practice.

          The conference, whose theme was "Building for the Future," offered workshops on development and preservation, financing affordable housing, and housing policy.

      • April 17, 2015

        Robinson+Cole Represents National Bank in HUD Rental Assistance Demonstration Conversion Deals with Cambridge Housing Authority

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          Robinson+Cole Represents National Bank in HUD Rental Assistance Demonstration Conversion Deals with Cambridge Housing Authority

          Robinson+Cole real estate lawyers Andrew L. Kramer, Matthew J. Lawlor, Jerome L. Garciano, and Katherine C. Bailey represented a national bank in its role as a lender for the Cambridge Housing Authority's (CHA) first four Rental Assistance Demonstration (RAD) conversion deals. In April 2015, the bank closed the tax-exempt bond financing for 511 units of public housing conversions under HUD's RAD program. The RAD program was created to give public housing authorities a tool to preserve and improve public housing properties by restructuring HUD subsidies into long-term contracts that facilitate the private financing of improvements. These first four transactions are part of a long-term project to convert all 2,129 of CHA's public housing units to RAD. The bank is the top affordable housing finance provider in the country, lending $3.2 billion in 2014.

           

      • August 14, 2014

        Robinson+Cole Lawyers Host Networking Event at 2014 ABA Annual Meeting

      R+C News Releases

      • November 27, 2017

        Robinson+Cole Promotes Eight Lawyers to Counsel

      • February 1, 2016

        Robinson+Cole Forms Sustainability Cross-Practice Team

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          Robinson+Cole Forms Sustainability Cross-Practice Team

          Robinson+Cole announced today that lawyers from a variety of its practice areas have formally come together to form an interdisciplinary Sustainability Group. Comprised of lawyers with deep experience and a history of collaborating to handle sustainability issues related to energy, environmental, tax, intellectual property, real estate, finance, mergers and acquisitions, and construction matters, the team is positioned to offer clients a comprehensive approach to incorporating sustainable designs and practices into their business.

          The lawyers in the group routinely counsel clients on addressing sustainable practices such as using renewable and alternative energy, recycling and conserving water and other resources, financing green initiatives, following LEED and green construction practices, implementing corporate sustainability programs, managing climate change risks through adaptation and mitigation, and establishing clean-tech ventures.

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      • July 17, 2014

        Robinson+Cole Welcomes Six New Lawyers

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          Robinson+Cole Welcomes Six New Lawyers

          Robinson+Cole is pleased to welcome to the firm five new associates and one counsel across its practice areas. The lawyers join the firm's Boston, Hartford, and Stamford offices and their arrival corresponds with that of Matthew T. Miklave, who, as previously announced, joined the firm as a partner to head Robinson+Cole's labor and employment practice in the firm's Metro New York offices.

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