Whyte Hirschboeck Dudek S.C.: Madison office assembles top real estate team

For more information contact:
Peggy Schicantek
(414) 978-5346
pschicantek@whdlaw.com

MILWAUKEE – November 11, 2014 – The law firm of Whyte Hirschboeck Dudek S.C. (WHD) is pleased to announce that it has hired two of Madison’s preeminent real estate attorneys, Paul J. Dombrowski and Jeffrey L. Vercauteren, to enhance its integrated real estate law practice in the firm’s Madison office. Dombrowski is a 23-year veteran of real estate finance and development, and Vercauteren has extensive experience in the city planning and regulatory processes, as well as siting issues such as environmental permitting.

Dombrowski focuses his practice on banking and finance legal issues to help the team manage the large financial transactions required to successfully launch large new projects. He assists clients with the acquisition, development and disposition of their properties, and frequently advises clients on construction, annexation, zoning and land use matters. He devotes a significant portion of his practice to commercial finance matters, including those involving New Markets Tax Credits, Low Income Housing Tax Credits, Historic Tax Credits, tax incremental financing, HUD financing, mortgage lending, workouts, and other commercial loans.

“We already work with developers to help them raise large sums of money to build these projects,’’ said Jerard Jensen, managing partner of WHD’s Madison office. “With Paul on the team, we’ll also be able to work more closely with the banks and investors who provide that capital. With bank lending rules tightening or becoming more complex, Paul will help us to integrate and streamline the legal work we do for large projects both on the borrowing and lending side.”

Dombrowski earned his B.A. from the University of Iowa, and his J.D., magna cum laude, from the University of Iowa College of Law. Awarded numerous recognitions as a top real estate lawyer, he is a member of the Dane County Task Force for the Prioritized Revision of Chapter 10 (Zoning), a member of Madison Area Builders Association’s Government Affairs Committee and Smart Growth Greater Madison, and a board member of Project Home, Inc.

Vercauteren represents clients in all aspects of project development and financing and advises on detailed and complex regulatory and government affairs issues, including matters before the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, the Public Service Commission of Wisconsin, the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources, and other state, county, and municipal administrative agencies, boards and committees. He earned his B.A. in political science from the University of Wisconsin, and his J.D., cum laude, from the University of Notre Dame Law School. He is a board member of Downtown Madison Inc. and chair of its Landmarks Ordinance Ad Hoc Committee, president of Capitol Neighborhoods, Inc. and chair of its Policy Committee, and a member of the Greater Madison Chamber of Commerce.

“Jeff knows the city and he’s very involved with the organizations helping to build and develop Madison and its surrounding cities,’’ Jensen said. “We’re excited to have even stronger connections to those working to build Madison’s future.

“What’s exciting about the veteran team we have assembled is that it’s integrated so we can be fully engaged with developers from conception to construction. I believe we have the strongest, most integrated real estate legal team in south central Wisconsin—one that’s regularly involved in the city’s largest real estate projects.”

The team is part of a larger, firm-wide Commercial Real Estate Team that Chambers USA referred to as a “well-respected group” that is regularly called upon to advise on development issues, with a particular focus on economic incentives, including New Markets Tax Credits and Low Income Housing Tax Credits. “They bring a very good business sense to the table. They understand where the risks and where the rewards are,” Chambers USA said.

With the additions of Dombrowski and Vercauteren, as well as veteran real estate attorney Angela Black in recent months, “this is a team that I am expecting will play a lead role in reshaping Madison,’’ Jensen said.