Debbie Gezon

Debbie J. Gezon

Partner

Debbie J. Gezon

Partner

  • Overview

    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 and Co-Chair of Affordable Housing Finance.

    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 $188 million portfolio of 16 loans including 6 Fannie Mae M.TEM loans and 10 Freddie Mac cash loans covering projects in Texas, Florida and South Carolina; a $132 million development of a multi-use tower project in San Francisco; a $53 million construction to permanent loan for a 200-unit affordable family and senior apartment complex in Colorado where project financing included a “CHIF” loan and a “DR” Loan from the Colorado Department of Local Affairs, a loan from the Housing Authority of the County of Boulder, Worthy Cause Grants from Boulder County, City of Louisville Impact and Permit Grants and a Boulder Builder Consortium HOME Loan, the project also benefitted from a Section 8 Housing Assistance Payments Contract; 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 - 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.
     

  • Experience
    • Experience

      Experience

      • Negotiated and drafted property and construction management agreements on behalf of a real estate developer, in connection with the construction of an observation deck and related space on top of a major office building in Los Angeles, California.

      • Represented the lead lender in a $132 million construction loan for the development of a multi-use tower project in San Francisco financed through tax-exempt private placement bonds with 4 percent tax credits.

      • Represented a national lender in a $28 million construction loan with a $19 million permanent loan for a project in Denver financed through a tax-exempt loan with 4 percent tax credits. 

      • Assisted the owner of a major retail store in San Francisco with the purchase of a $20 million property and the related financing. 

      • Represented a national lender in a $38 million construction loan for the development of a mixed use project in Los Angeles. The project involved a ground lease, affordable parcel sublease, grant infrastructure funds, and other subordinate financing.

      • Represented various Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac lenders in affordable housing projects involving a host of issues including 9 percent tax credits, governmental subordinate debt, and payoff of tax-exempt bonds.

      • Represented a national lender in a $13 million construction loan for the development of Rental Assistance Demonstration (RAD) project in Nevada under a ground lease from the local housing authority.

    • Professional Associations

      Professional Associations

      California Bar Association
  • NEWS + PRESS
    • News

      R+C in the News

      • November 14, 2008

        Robinson & Cole Gains Over 30 Former Thelen Attorneys in Hartford, Connecticut and New York City

        • » more info

          Robinson & Cole Gains Over 30 Former Thelen Attorneys in Hartford, Connecticut and New York City

          Robinson & Cole, a leading commercial law firm with more than 225 lawyers and eight offices in the Northeast and Florida, announced today that 9 partners and over 20 additional attorneys from Thelen LLP will be joining the firm. Click here to read press release.

      R+C News Releases

      • January 18, 2013

        Robinson & Cole Announces 2013 Partner Promotions

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          Robinson & Cole Announces 2013 Partner Promotions

          Robinson & Cole is pleased to announce the election of four attorneys to partner: Stephen E. Cooper, Nuala E. Droney, Debbie J. Gezon, and Eugene P. Murphy, effective January 1, 2013.

          "Congratulations to Stephen, Nuala, Debbie, and Gene," said John B. Lynch Jr., managing partner of the firm. "The new partners demonstrate the scope of our practices in terms of practice area (business transactions, business litigation, real estate, and insurance) as well as geography (Stamford and Hartford, Connecticut; Los Angeles, California; and Sarasota, Florida)."

        • View article