Real Estate/Housing Development/Non-Profits

Transactional Practice

Miner, Barnhill & Galland, P.C. offers legal services in the areas of real estate, community development financing, corporations, partnerships, limited liability companies and related areas. Over the last 25 years, the firm has developed a wide and varied practice relating to community development. With its depth of experience, the firm's transactions group is able to offer high-quality, cost-effective service, tailored to the needs of each particular client. The transactional practice group currently includes partners Laura Tilly, William Miceli along with associate Tiffany Glanville .  Paralegals Diane Baginski and Nancy Quinn provide valuable legal support and economical assistence wherever appropriate.

Community Development Lending and Investment. The firm has a unique expertise in community development lending and investment. For more than 25 years the firm has represented Local Initiatives Support Corporation ("LISC"), the nation's largest not-for-profit lending intermediary focusing on community development corporations. The firm represents LISC many matters in Chicago, and has also represented LISC in transactions other locations around the country.

Other community development lending and investment clients, past and present, have included MB Financial Bank, National Equity Fund, Corporation for Supportive Housing, Bank of America Community Development Corporation, Local Initiatives Managed Assets Corporation, and Fannie Mae.

Inner-City Development. The firm has represented a large number of developers, both for-profit and not-for-profit, focusing on work in the inner city. Development in low-income neighborhoods presents unique challenges, ranging from multiple-layered financing and equity structures, to deteriorated building conditions, to working with public agencies. The firm is very experienced in managing these issues with its clients. Lawyers at the firm have helped to provide thousands of units of housing and substantial commercial space in inner-city communities.

Miner, Barnhill & Galland, P.C. routinely performs the following tasks, among others: representation on and documentation in borrowing and granting transactions with public and private entities of all kinds; negotiation of purchase and sale agreements with public and private parties; assistance in syndication of projects eligible for the Low Income Housing Tax Credit and Illinois Affordable Tax Credit; acquisition, pre-development, construction, and permanent financing; structuring joint ventures or other combinations of multiple developers; and negotiation and review of development-related contracts.

The firm's current clients in this area include many non-profit developers in Chicago, including but not limited to Hispanic Housing Development Corporation, Woodlawn Preservation and Investment Corporation, Fund for Community Redevelopment and Revitalization, Near West Side Community Development Corporation, Near North Development Corporation, Chicago Metropolitan Housing Development Corporation, Voice of the People in Uptown, and Woodlawn Community Development Corporation.

General Real Estate and Corporate Practice. The firm's transactions group also has a general real estate law practice. Real estate expertise includes purchases and sales of multi-family residential and commercial properties, real estate financing, leasing, appearances before the Zoning Board of Appeals, Housing Court representation, eminent domain, partnership and limited liability company formation, condominiums, assistance in obtaining real estate tax exemptions and special classifications, subdivisions, tax divisions and consolidations, and alley vacations. Clients range from urban churches to suburban developers.

Corporate Representation of Not-For-Profit Corporations. Miner, Barnhill & Galland's corporate practice focuses on not-for-profit corporations including federally qualified health centers. The firm's expertise in not-for-profit corporations includes corporate formation and organization, preparation of tax exemption applications and other governmental filings, consultation on charitability issues, structuring joint ventures with other not-for-profit or for-profit entities, contracting, and ongoing counsel and assistance. Non-profit clients include Apostolic Church of God, Community Renewal Society, Center for New Horizons, Chicago Commons Association, Little Black Pearl Workshop, The Woodlawn Organization, and Historic Chicago Bungalow Association.

Community Health Center Practice. Miner, Barnhill and Galland represents Near North Health Service Corporation ("NNHSC"), one of Chicago's premier operators of federally qualified health centers. With nine sites and over 200 employees, NNHSC provides vital health care alternatives to residents of the inner city. The firm works closely with NNHSC on real estate, facilities, corporate, financing, contracting, and personnel issues. The firm also represents TCA Health, Inc., owner/operator of a clinic in Altgeld Community, and a consortium of three other federally qualified health centers.

Real Estate Tax Practice. As part of its work for clients who successfully redevelop multi-family housing, the firm represents owners who seek real estate tax relief. This work is concentrated in Cook County, Illinois, but also includes other locales.