Adler & Stachenfeld launches impact investing practice; led by Ash and Patka

Manhattan, NY Adler & Stachenfeld LLP (A&S) has launched an impact real estate practice, which will provide counsel to commercial real estate developers, investors, and not-for-profit organizations on mission-driven and ESG-guided investments and projects. The practice will be co-led by A&S partners Danielle Ash and YuhTyng Patka.

Within the commercial real estate industry, this practice will fill a significant market need. Although impact investing is not new, over the last several years, there has been a heightened effort by institutional investors, including REITs, private equity firms, pension funds, and lenders in the commercial real estate industry to seek measurable environmental, social, and governance impacts while generating desired financial returns.

Meanwhile, not-for-profit organizations, affordable housing development firms, minority and women-owned business enterprises (MWBE), green builders, and mission-driven developers and operators are more active than ever – and in desperate need of new and more flexible sources of capital.

“As ESG investing has become more common, demand for expert guidance on how to structure commercial real estate partnerships, joint-ventures, and other transactions to ensure both social good and benefit to all parties has become paramount,” said Terri Adler, managing partner of Adler & Stachenfeld. “At Adler & Stachenfeld, we have a team that has spent years working with both traditional and impact-focused clients, providing best-in-class legal expertise while also helping our clients grow their businesses. We occupy a unique position with our ability to address the entire range of legal matters relating to mission-driven investing, and we are proud to formalize this expertise with a new practice group under the leadership of Danielle and Tyng.”

In addition to providing legal counsel to its real estate clients, Adler & Stachenfeld provides unique value-add services that include making introductions to assist clients in finding transactions, financial partners, investors, strategic relationships and other counterparties. This activity has driven billions of dollars of transactions, while creating an intellectual hub that provides clients with insights, new ideas and creative ways to outperform and solve problems.

“The focus of this practice aligns with A&S’ core mission given that successful, results-oriented impact-focused real estate transactions require not just business and legal acumen, but deep knowledge of the values-driven priorities and cultures of each client,” Patka said. “Armed with this knowledge, mutually beneficial connections and education of clients on ESG implementation best practices can happen at scale. Sometimes, a creative legal solution is the difference between an impact initiative being viable or not.”

Patka is the chair of A&S’ NYC real estate tax and Incentives practice group and Co-chair of the firm’s NYC climate mobilization act task force and PACE financing practice. She often counsels not-for-profit organizations on how to qualify for property tax exemptions. Her practice also includes representing developers in New York City on matters relating to Inclusionary Housing zoning benefits and acquisition or disposition of inclusionary air rights.

Ash is a partner in the firm’s real estate group, as well as a member of various specialty practice groups, including ground leasing, Opportunity Zones, fund formations, and real estate finance. She has expertise in a wide array of real estate matters, including ground leases, joint ventures, construction and permanent financing, multi-stakeholder negotiations and development projects, and complex fund formations, and regularly represents institutional landlords, tenants, borrowers, lenders, sponsors, institutional investors, and developers in New York City and throughout the country.

“There is an incredible opportunity to increase diversity in commercial real estate through the growing number of ESG initiatives in the industry,” said Ash. “We are in a great position to make meaningful strategic connections because that is what we do every day for our clients at A&S. We merge our expertise as real estate attorneys to connect parties and capital sources that will help bring mission-oriented projects to fruition.”