Steven J. Weiss Joins Community Preservation Corporation’s Board of Directors

The Community Preservation Corporation (CPC), a not-for-profit affordable housing and neighborhood revitalization finance company, announced today the confirmation of Steven J. Weiss to its Board of Directors.

A long-time resident of Buffalo, New York, Mr. Weiss has wide-ranging expertise in affordable housing law, community development law and corporate finance transactions using Housing Tax Credits, New Markets Tax Credits, Historic Tax Credits, and other tax incentives. He has also testified before the United States House of Representatives Ways and Means Committee and before the New York State Assembly Committee on Housing regarding the Low Income Housing Tax Credit program.

“We’re thrilled to welcome Steven to the CPC Board of Directors. His expertise in affordable housing and community development law, as well as his fluency in real estate finance, will be a valuable addition to the company’s governance structure,” said Rafael E. Cestero, President and CEO of the Community Preservation Corporation. “As a company that works in communities across New York State and the northeast, it’s important to us to have somebody on our board like Steven who lives and works in Buffalo and who has his finger on the pulse of Western New York.”

“I’m excited to join the board of CPC. I continue to be very impressed by the executive leadership and their extraordinary staff who focus on providing resources to projects where many other lenders cannot or will not do so. Several of our clients throughout New York State, but particularly in upstate NY, have benefited from the funding programs and resources offered by CPC. I look forward to being part of the CPC team and sharing my perspective on affordable housing in general and on the upstate NY market in particular,” said Steven Weiss.

Mr. Weiss is a member of the American Bar Association Forum on Affordable Housing and Community Development Law, and the New York State Bar Association Real Estate Committee. He is president of the Jewish Federation of Western New York and currently serves on the Board of Directors of Roswell Park Cancer Institute.

Mr. Weiss has held several prestigious public positions in the affordable housing space. Previously, Mr. Weiss served on the Housing Transition Committee for New York Governor Andrew Cuomo and was nominated by Governor Cuomo to serve on the Board of Directors of the New York State Housing Finance Agency, confirmed by the New York State Senate. He formerly served as Vice Chair of HFA and Chair of its Governance Committee.

Previously, Mr. Weiss was a Board Member of the Jewish Federations of North America, the Jewish Community Center, the Temple Beth Zion Board and Hillel Foundation. He was also a former Trustee and former Board Chair of Preservation Buffalo Niagara, former Board Member and former Chair of the Public Policy Committee for the Preservation League of New York State.

Mr. Weiss formerly served as an adjunct professor with the State University of New York at Buffalo Law School and currently serves on the Dean’s Advisory Counsel. He is admitted to practice law in New York. Mr. Weiss received his BS and MBA from the State University of New York at Buffalo School of Management, and his JD from the State University of New York at Buffalo School of Law.

CPC is a mission-driven nonprofit affordable housing and community revitalization finance company with a decades-long history serving New York State’s housing and community revitalization needs. The company has been bringing stable capital and impactful investments to quality multifamily housing projects in Western New York since the early 1990s, developing and deploying tailored capital products designed to address the specific housing challenges of upstate communities, including the adaptive reuse of vacant industrial buildings in downtown urban cores, and rehabilitation of the small and Naturally Occurring Affordable Housing (NOAH) rental stock.

Over the course of its history, CPC has provided more than $278 million to finance 150 multifamily housing developments throughout Western New York, inclusive of roughly $196 million to finance 92 developments in the Buffalo area. CPC has financed projects such as the Hotel at the Lafayette, 96-124 Elmhurst Place, and 36 Broadway, with recent projects including 500 Seneca Street, Buffalo River Landing (1 South Street), The Alexandre (510 Washington Street), and the Niagara Gateway Apartments (885 Niagara Street). To learn more about CPC visit communityp.com.