Boston, MA—Nixon Peabody LLP is pleased to announce new leadership for its Affordable Housing, General Real Estate & Transactions, and Environmental teams—three prominent teams within Nixon Peabody’s nationally recognized Affordable Housing & Real Estate practice.
Affordable Housing Team
Strategic policy advisor Deborah VanAmerongen, who previously served as the commissioner of the New York State Division of Housing and Community Renewal, has been named as leader of Nixon Peabody’s Affordable Housing Team. Deborah is also the deputy leader of the firm’s national Affordable Housing & Real Estate practice.
Based in the firm’s New York City office, Deborah focuses on complex affordable housing transactions, including those that require interaction with several governmental agencies and numerous funding sources. She also introduces clients to new opportunities and markets and builds partnerships between clients and community groups that will facilitate their transaction’s success.
General Real Estate & Transactional Team
Partner and longtime Nixon Peabody attorney Dara Histed will lead the firm’s General Real Estate & Transactional Team. Partner Matthew Carrigg will serve as deputy team leader.
Dara is a partner in the firm’s Washington DC office, where she represents developers, landowners, and investors in a wide variety of real estate transactions. She helps her clients execute transactions ranging from complex tax credit and affordable housing deals to market-rate housing transactions. These deals often involve joint ventures, development agreements, acquisitions, financings, and refinancings.
Matthew, a partner in Nixon Peabody’s Rochester, New York, office, focuses his practice on various commercial and private real estate transactions, representing borrowers and lenders, commercial developers, and private companies. He has substantial experience in all aspects of commercial real estate matters, as well as with complex financings of affordable housing developments.
Environmental Team
Nixon Peabody partner Alison Torbitt and counsel Dana Stanton will co-lead the firm’s Environmental Team, which helps clients spot, avoid, and correct present and potential environmental issues. The team identifies practical, sustainable, and timely solutions that lower economic and reputational risk while making a positive impact on the environment.
Alison has been with Nixon Peabody for more than a decade. Based in the firm’s San Francisco office, she focuses on environmental compliance, brownfield remediation, ESG, and transactional due diligence, counseling a range of manufacturers, developers, and financing parties to find solutions with all aspects of environmental law.
Based in the firm’s Albany office, Dana’s practice focuses on environmental regulatory and enforcement matters, the remediation of contaminated property, brownfield redevelopment, and environmental due diligence.
“Our clients rely on innovative, comprehensive legal solutions, and these team leaders are vital to helping our clients navigate complex legal matters and closings in a fast-changing real estate landscape,” said Christopher Froeb, partner and leader of Nixon Peabody’s Affordable Housing & Real Estate practice. “Deborah, Dara, Matt, Alison, and Dana all set great examples, and their collective experience benefits clients and colleagues alike.”
