De Blasio Nominates Enderlin as HDC Chief

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Mayor Bill de Blasio on Thursday nominated Eric Enderlin to be president of the New York City Housing Development Corp., the city's housing finance arm and a major player in de Blasio's affordable housing initiative.

Current president Gary Rodney is leaving to become chairman of CREA LLC, a national low-income housing tax credit syndicator.

The board of HDC, the nation's largest municipal housing finance agency, must approve the nomination.

Enderlin, 50, of Greenwich Village, is now deputy commissioner at the New York City Department of Housing Preservation and Development, where he oversees the agency's office of development.

"Our affordable housing machine has never been stronger in our city's history. We welcome Eric Enderlin, whose wealth of experience in Housing Preservation and Development will take us to new heights in affordable housing in New York City," de Blasio said in a statement. "We are immensely grateful for Gary Rodney's incredible contributions to the Housing Development Corp., and the historic levels of affordable housing he helped to spur on."

HPD and HDC operate independently of one another, although HPD commissioner Vicki Been chairs HDC's board and the agencies collaborate to finance the city's affordable housing stock.

Last month, de Blasio announced that his administration secured 23,284 affordable apartments and homes during fiscal 2016, the second highest production in city history.

Since de Blasio took office in 2014, HDC has issued more than $3.9 billion in bonds and financing more than 25,000 of the units built or preserved to date under de Blasio's 10-year, five-borough plan, Housing New York.

The agency issued more than $1.5 billion of that amount through the sustainable neighborhood bond program, which it launched last year as the nation's first social responsibility bond in the affordable housing marketplace.

"HDC is the financial backbone of the mayor's plan to build and protect an ambitious 200,000 affordable homes in 10 years," said Enderlin. "Gary brought know-how and a roll-up-your sleeves attitude. I cannot wait to carry forward the work."

HDC sold $1.3 billion of bonds in fiscal 2016, with Rodney citing a "robust toolbox" of financing programs. S&P Global Ratings and Moody's Investors Service rate the agency AA plus and Aa2, respectively.

"At the start of this current administration and after drafting the housing plan, we changed all of our programs," Rodney, 40, said in a interview. The variety of programs, he said, enabled HDC to spur new developments while preserving the quality and affordability of existing housing.

Under Rodney, the agency expanded beyond its tax-exempt, fixed-rate serial bonds. Packages include recycled bonds, private placements and even a forward starting swap, the latter used to obtain financing for a new development, 148th Street Jamaica, in Queens.

"I congratulate Eric and know that his talent, skill and creativity will lead the HDC team to even greater success as Housing New York continues its incredible progress," said Rodney, a former executive vice president for development at real estate company Omni New York LLC. "I look forward to working with Jeff Whiting and the senior management team at CREA in my new role."

Whiting founded CREA, formerly City Real Estate Advisors Inc., in 2001.

Before HPD, Enderlin was assistant director for asset management and private market operations at the New York City Housing Authority; worked as a consultant with the Louis Berger Group in its economics department; and was principal planner and land use mediator with the New Jersey Council on Affordable Housing.

He holds a bachelor of arts degree in economics and a master of science in urban planning and policy, both from Rutgers University.

This article originally appeared in The Bond Buyer.
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