2019 Women in Real Estate: Lisa Lim, Akerman LLP

Name: Lisa Lim

Title: Partner

Company Name: c 

Association/Organization Affiliations: NY CREW; Asian Real Estate Association of America (AREAA)

What is your favorite motivational quote? 
“The only thing we have to fear is fear itself.” ~ Franklin D. Roosevelt. 

What recent project or transaction are you most proud of? 
I represented Charles Wang Community Health Center, Inc. in connection with the development, construction, structuring and financing of its new 80,000 s/f healthcare facility located Queens. This was a complex deal that involved multiple lenders. Our client was able to develop the project on their own (their first ground up construction project) with our guidance. The project will provide primary care services including dental, internal medicine, mental health, obstetrics and gynecology, pediatrics and social work. The project was financed with $30 million of bonds issued by Build NYC Resource Corp.; the bonds were purchased by Flushing Bank. The project was also financed with $10 million of new market tax credit allocation by NYCR-CDE; the NMTC investor was Wells Fargo Community and Investment, a community banking group. City capital which is the third source of financing will be administered by New York City Economic Development Corp. 

What books, blogs, podcasts, resources or influencers would you recommend to women? 
Historical biographies of accomplished women.

Who inspired you to join the CRE Industry? 
I am a native New Yorker. I have been the lead counsel on a number of 80/20 projects that have helped to revitalize and develop rezoned sections of New York City. I have been lead counsel on significant large scale developments and capital projects that have brought economic development and innovation to New York City and New York state. These projects include Cornell Tech, New York Genome and the Harlem Children Zone. It is the process of getting complex deals done under pressing time frames so that a project with a public purpose can get financed, completed and utilized that drives me. 

How do you hold your own in a negotiation? 
I try to see the transaction from different vantage points. Like a chess match, I try to predict what the other side will ask for so I can best position my client in a negotiation. 

What is the best advice you have received, and who was it from? 
My parents encouraged me to lead and not to blindly follow others. This set the groundwork for me to think independently for myself from a young age. This was later reinforced by my liberal arts education at Wellesley College and legal training at Fordham Law School. 

What was one of your biggest accomplishments in the last 12 months? 
I was the recipient of the Best Hotel Lawyer Award by the America China Hotel Association in October 2018. The hotel association and its members are my clients so it was great to get this recognition from them.