About Charlie Metzger

Charlie Metzger represents commercial real estate lenders, equity clients and government agencies, as well as Affordable Housing developers and investors, in sophisticated real estate transactions, including acquisitions, dispositions, financings, joint ventures and affordable multifamily housing transactions. He excels in high-pressure situations to get deals closed on tight timelines.

Relentless focus on advocacy and service for real estate clients

Charlie has served as counsel to a diverse set of clients on a range of high-stakes real estate transactions, including transactions involving complex equity, financing and joint venture issues and tax credits, bond financing, and rental subsidies. Charlie also regularly represents owners and general contractors on the negotiation of construction contracts and Architect's Agreements and has extensive experience negotiating on the American Institute of Architects (AIA) forms.

During law school, Charlie worked as a Law Clerk in the Legal Department of the New York State Housing Finance Agency, the tax credit authorizer and bond issuer for Affordable Housing development and preservation in New York State, as well as in the Legal Department of SONYMA, the State of New York Mortgage Agency.

Charlie also has extensive experience practicing nonprofit law and maintains an active pro bono practice. In law school, he spent several semesters working in the Fordham Law School Community Economic Development (CED) Clinic, representing startup and established 501(c)(3) nonprofits, including in the Affordable Housing space. He also served as an Associate Editor of the Fordham Urban Law Journal and as a member of the Moot Court Board. At graduation, he received the Ann Moynihan Award for Outstanding Performance in the Law School’s Clinical Program and the Archibald R. Murray Award for Public Service.

At Katten, Charlie has served as pro bono outside counsel to a nonprofit Community Center in Jersey City, New Jersey, an arts and cultural preservation nonprofit in Chinatown, New York City, and a bond issuer in Illinois in connection with a new C-PACE (Commercial Property Assessed Clean Energy) Initiative. Charlie serves on the Next-Gen (2G) Committee of the New York State Association for Affordable Housing (NYSAFAH) and the Housing and Urban Development Committee of the New York City Bar Association.

Before law school, Charlie worked for several years in state and city politics in New York and New Jersey, including on the successful advocacy campaign to enact Mandatory Inclusionary Housing (MIH) and Zoning for Quality and Affordability (ZQA) into law in New York City. Additionally, he taught Middle School History in Newark, New Jersey, as a Teach for America Corps Member.

Charlie regularly advises elected officials and candidates for public office on issues relating to housing, transit and infrastructure. He has worked on political campaigns at every level of government, from City Council and State Legislative campaigns to Congressional and Presidential campaigns. Most recently, Charlie served as a Policy Director on the successful Solomon for Mayor Campaign in Jersey City and worked on the Jersey City Mayoral Transition Team. He previously worked at the headquarters of Obama for America in Chicago.

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Representative Experience

  • Representing an affordable housing developer in connection with the development of a 277-unit, one-hundred percent affordable multifamily development in the Bronx, New York, financed by the New York City Housing Development Corporation and built pursuant to the New York City Department of Housing Preservation and Development’s Extremely Low & Low-Income Affordability (“ELLA”) program.
  • Representing an affordable housing developer in connection with a 100% affordable multi-project development in Queens, New York, financed by both the New York City Housing Development Corporation and the New York State Housing Finance Agency.
  • Representing the New York City Economic Development Corporation in connection with the disposition of 100 Gold Street.
  • Representing a nonprofit hospital system in Texas in connection with the negotiation of a construction contract for a significant expansion funded in part by the Texas Health and Human Services Commission.
  • Representing an affordable housing developer in connection with two construction loans totaling more than $700 million to build residential multifamily housing in Long Island City, Queens, pursuant to the Affordable New York Housing Program.
  • Representing an affordable housing developer in connection with the $55 million refinance, by an agency lender, of a Mitchell-Lama Project in Brooklyn.
  • Representing an affordable housing developer in connection with a Bond-Financed, Low-Income Housing Tax Credit (LIHTC) Project in Jamaica, Queens.
  • Representing a national life insurance company in connection with the origination of a $90 million construction loan to finance the construction of a residential multifamily complex in New Jersey.

News

Publications

Practices
Education
  • Fordham University School of Law, JD, magna cum laude, Order of the Coif
  • Princeton University, AB, cum laude
Bar Admissions
  • New York
Recognitions
Recognized or listed in the following:
  • Katten Muchin Rosenman LLP Pro Bono Service Award
    2024
Award Methodologies