Carolyn J. Lee

Partner
Carolyn J. Lee
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(415) 981-0550
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Services
Affordable Housing, Land Use, Real Estate
Affordable Housing, Land Use, Land Use & CEQA, Real Estate

Education

  • University of California College of the Law, San Francisco (formerly University of California, Hastings College of the Law) (J.D. 2013)
  • Brown University (B.A. International Relations and Urban Studies, 2010)

Admissions

Bar Admissions

  • California

Representative Matters

  • Represented a developer of 800 units of affordable and market-rate housing in a redevelopment area in San Francisco, handling various aspects of environmental review and project entitlements, land transfers, subdivisions, and processing of final maps. Also obtained private and public financing, which included over $500 million of funding for a three-phase development involving tax-exempt bond financing, low-income housing tax credits, and multiple subordinate loans.
  • Represented limited partnerships acquiring nine projects under the first and second phases of the San Francisco Rental Assistance Demonstration (RAD) Program in accordance with the Consolidated and Further Continuing Appropriations Act of 2012 (Pub. L. 112-55, signed November 18, 2011, as amended), of which one developer acquired more than 700 units of affordable housing in the Mission, Castro, and Bernal Heights area, and the other developer acquired 439 units of affordable housing in the Hunters Point neighborhood. The goal of the San Francisco RAD Program was to transfer ownership and management from the Housing Authority of the City and County of San Francisco (SFHA) to eight different owner/developer teams to leverage the private financing necessary to address long-underfunded capital needs for the 3,469 former public housing units. The $2.2 billion financing involved leveraging private capital in the form of tax-exempt bond construction and permanent loans, tax-credit equity and services funding, as well as City of San Francisco and SFHA subordinate debt.
  • Represented a tax-credit limited partnership for the acquisition and rehabilitation of 93 apartment units located in two buildings on an approximately 1.3-acre site in the San Francisco Castro neighborhood.
  • Represented an existing tax-credit limited partnership in converting the assistance of 148 affordable housing units to the RAD program.
  • Represented a nonprofit developer in the acquisition, financing, rehabilitation, and/or development of several affordable housing projects in the greater Los Angeles County area and in New Mexico.
  • Represented the University of California, San Francisco in connection with its long-range planning for use of its San Francisco campus sites, including the Mission Bay research and medical center sites and revitalization of its Parnassus Heights campus. Legal services included advising on planning and environmental review and successful defense and litigation support of multiple legal challenges under the California Environmental Quality Act.
  • Represented the University of California, Berkeley in connection with its long-range planning and housing projects. Legal services included advising on planning and environmental review and successful defense and litigation support of multiple legal challenges under the California Environmental Quality Act.
  • Represented the University of California, Davis in connection with its long-range planning for its Sacramento Medical Center and the Aggie Square project. Legal services included all planning and environmental review for a new hospital and mixed-use development project.
  • Represented a developer in obtaining local entitlements and state and federal regulatory approvals for a project in the East Bay that includes 760 new homes, 250,000 square feet of new maritime commercial space, shoreline open space, and a marina.
  • Represented multiple non-profit housing developers in successfully obtaining entitlements for several San Francisco affordable housing projects.

Related News

Publications & Speaking Engagements

Speaking Engagements

  • Speaker, “Entitlements, Environmental Permitting & Department of Real Estate (HOAs),” Life Cycle of a Development Project, BIA Bay Area New Gen, 2023
  • Speaker, “Land Use, Housing and the California Environmental Quality Act,” Annual California Residential Update, Lubin Olson & Niewiadomski LLP, 2022
  • Speaker, “Land Use, Housing and the California Environmental Quality Act,” Annual California Residential Update, Lubin Olson & Niewiadomski LLP, 2020
  • Speaker, “Land Use, Housing and the California Environmental Quality Act,” Annual California Residential Update, Lubin Olson & Niewiadomski LLP, 2019
  • Speaker, “Land Use, Housing and the California Environmental Quality Act,” Annual California Residential Update, Lubin Olson & Niewiadomski LLP, 2018

Carolyn J. Lee is a partner in Lubin Olson’s Real Estate, Land Use, and Affordable Housing service groups. She specializes in affordable housing transactions, commercial real estate transactions, and entitlements. Ms. Lee represents clients in a broad range of matters, including acquisitions and dispositions, leasing, financing, entity formation, development, title and real estate due diligence, land use, and environmental matters. She also has significant experience representing clients in the acquisition, financing, and development of affordable housing projects using tax-exempt bonds and low-income housing tax credit financing, as well as the United States Department of Housing and Urban Development’s financing and subsidy programs.

In her land use practice, Ms. Lee represents developers, institutions, and other property owners in obtaining entitlements and permits for the use of their property. She advises her clients on the preparation of environmental review documents under the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) and the preparation of entitlement documents under Planning and Zoning Law, the Housing Accountability Act, the Subdivision Map Act, general plans, specific plans, and local planning codes and zoning ordinances. She has represented clients with complex development projects throughout the Bay Area and Northern California, which involve entitling large multifamily residential projects and mixed-use office, commercial, and residential projects.

Ms. Lee is a member of the Asian American Bar Association of the Greater Bay Area, the Emerging Leaders Peer Network (ELPN) of the Non-Profit Housing Association of Northern California, and the San Francisco Housing Action Coalition.

Recently, Ms. Lee was honored by Thomson Reuters as a Northern California Super Lawyer “Rising Star” for 2021, 2022, and 2023. Ms. Lee was also included in the 2023 edition and 2024 edition of the Best Lawyers: Ones to Watch® in America for her work in Real Estate Law.