William W. Harrison, Jr.

Bill Harrison has been responsible for innovating and documenting complex commercial real estate transactions utilizing a wide variety of public-private partnership arrangements. He has crafted public-private transactions for a growing list of public and private sector members in the lodging industry, the sports industry, the entertainment industry and in higher education. He also has an in-depth understanding of complex structured financing arrangements in the field of tax-exempt finance, including municipal finance. He is frequently called upon by developers, municipalities and institutional lenders to help structure new projects. Mr. Harrison’s prior service as a member of Virginia Beach City Council (1994 to 2002) gives him a unique perspective in the planning of public-private partnerships. He has been successful in crafting such public-private joint ventures for municipal parking facilities, a 20,000 seat outdoor amphitheater, a soccer stadium, a TPC Golf Course, hotel and conference center projects, university facilities, performing arts facilities and public entertainment complexes.

Bill Harrison has been responsible for innovating and documenting complex commercial real estate transactions utilizing a wide variety of public-private partnership arrangements. He has crafted public-private transactions for a growing list of public and private sector members in the lodging industry, the sports industry, the entertainment industry and in higher education. He also has an in-depth understanding of complex structured financing arrangements in the field of tax-exempt finance, including municipal finance. He is frequently called upon by developers, municipalities and institutional lenders to help structure new projects. Mr. Harrison’s prior service as a member of Virginia Beach City Council (1994 to 2002) gives him a unique perspective in the planning of public-private partnerships. He has been successful in crafting such public-private joint ventures for municipal parking facilities, a 20,000 seat outdoor amphitheater, a soccer stadium, a TPC Golf Course, hotel and conference center projects, university facilities, performing arts facilities and public entertainment complexes.

Mr. Harrison is adept in the use of Virginia’s Public-Private Educational Facilities and Infrastructure Act of 2002 (“PPEA”) as a tool to bring private sector experience to bear on public projects—saving time and money. He has also structured public-private transactions involving the formation of special tax districts and tax increment finance districts by municipalities to provide revenue streams necessary to support the debt service on the public sector’s leveraged investment. He has been involved in the formation of Community Development Authorities as a means of providing additional revenues to assist in the financing of the development of infrastructure improvements associated with public-private mixed-use projects.

Mr. Harrison’s municipal finance practice involves his engagement as bond counsel, borrower’s counsel and underwriter’s counsel in connection with the issuance of tax-exempt obligations for both public and private facilities. He has been engaged in various roles in connection with the issuance of private activity bonds for manufacturers, qualified 501(c)(3) bonds for numerous healthcare and assisted living facilities throughout the Commonwealth of Virginia and for recreational and educational facilities for charitable organizations and private secondary schools. He has served as bond counsel nationally to finance qualified residential rental housing projects.

Mr. Harrison has also consummated taxable multi-million dollar loans for lenders and developers in connection with shopping centers and malls, office buildings, high rise apartment buildings, marinas, nursing homes, hotels and motels, and industrial buildings. These transactions involved the use of guaranties, ground leases, leasehold mortgages, conduit mortgages and pass through certificates of participation, letters of credit, equity participation mortgages and wrap mortgages. Mr. Harrison is frequently engaged by lenders, developers and other real estate investors for his advice and guidance in contract negotiations, financial planning, land use issues and structuring of acquisition and development loans. He is also called upon by new businesses seeking to establish themselves in Virginia for counseling at the initial stages of development.

Mr. Harrison graduated from the University of Virginia (B.A. 1975; J.D. 1978). He is a member of the Urban Land Institute, the National Association of Bond Lawyers and the ABA Section on Real Property Law. Mr. Harrison is listed in Virginia Business magazine’s “Legal Elite” as well as The Best Lawyers in America for Public Finance Law. He is active in numerous civic and charitable endeavors. He was a founding member of the board of trustees of the Virginia Stage Company, a former commissioner of the Virginia Beach Personnel Board, a past chairman of the Virginia Beach United Way and a former trustee of the University of Virginia Athletics Foundation. Governor McDonnell appointed Mr. Harrison to serve on the Commonwealth of Virginia Treasury Board. Mr. Harrison also served as a commissioner of the Hampton Roads Planning District Commission. He currently serves as a director of Virginia Beach Vision, is the president of the Central Business District Association and is on the executive committee of the Sandler Center for the Performing Arts Foundation. In 2010, Mr. Harrison was appointed chairman of the Hampton Roads Transportation Planning Organization Citizen Transportation Advisory Committee. He also remains active politically in the City of Virginia Beach.