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John M. Stern

I love seeing my clients' projects transform communities.

Contact: P /612.604.6588E /[email protected]

Education

University of Minnesota Law School, J.D., cum laude, 2005

University of Wisconsin, B.A., 2000

Bar Admissions

Minnesota

Wisconsin

My Approach

I generally work on two types of real estate projects.  In one facet of my practice, I assist my clients in using federal and state tax credits to develop affordable housing and to adaptively reuse historic buildings.  Many of these projects have multiple – sometimes ten or more – financing sources. Developing a project that satisfies the requirements of all of these funders can be a challenge, but I enjoy working with my clients and their funders to meet everyone’s goals for the project.

On the other side, I also help clients develop multifamily housing, and senior housing, and mixed-use developments that include residential, hotel, office, and/or retail space. These projects could be the anchor of a new downtown neighborhood, or could be central to the redevelopment efforts of a blighted area in a community.  These projects often are not feasible without state or local incentives, and I work with my clients to structure these deals in a manner that maximizes the efficient use of these scarce resources.

Practice Areas

Practicing Tax Credit Financing & Syndication

My Experience

I regularly work on the following matters

• Structuring transactions involving state and federal tax credits, tax-exempt bonds, and tax increment financing
• Obtaining construction financing, permanent financing, debt facilities, and bridge financing
• Navigating state and federal government grant and loan programs
• Acquiring debt and equity interests in troubled real estate assets
• Assembling and developing land
• Securing local governmental approvals
• Negotiating joint venture agreements
• Leasing

Representative Matters

• Developer’s counsel for a mixed-income project with approximately 200 units of market rate housing and 50 units of affordable housing. The market rate and affordable portions of the project had two separate plans of finance, and included tax-exempt bond financing, tax increment financing, federal low-income housing tax credits, HOME funds, and mezzanine financing.
• Developer’s counsel for the renovation and adaptive reuse of a historic factory into approximately 90 units of affordable housing. Financing included federal and state low-income housing tax credits, federal and state historic tax credits, tax-exempt bond financing, environmental grants, and other soft funds.
• Investor’s counsel for the adaptive reuse of a historic building into a restaurant, bar, and creative work space.
• Developer’s counsel for a mixed-use redevelopment project with approximately 250 units of residential housing and approximately 24,500 square feet of retail space. The local government provided several forms of soft funds to incentivize the redevelopment project.
• Developer’s counsel for an affordable housing project with more than 10 sources of funds, including federal, state and local funds for affordable housing, environmental remediation and transit-oriented development.
• Developer’s counsel for a mixed-use project with over 350 residential units and approximately 24,000 square feet of retail, office and creative work space.

Also experienced in

Real Estate Development & Transactions

Honors & Awards

Real Estate Lawyer of the Year

REJournals, 2024

The Best Lawyers in America©

Real Estate Law, 2023-2025

Attorney of the Year

Minnesota Lawyer, 2016

Associations & Memberships

Winthrop & Weintine

Member, Board of Directors, 2019-2021

American Bar Association

Minnesota Bar Association

Forum on Affordable Housing and Community Development Law

Urban Land Institute Minnesota, Young Leaders Group

Mentor, 2019