D. Hara Perkins
Director
New York
hperkins@goulstonstorrs.com+1 212 878 5129D. Hara Perkins
Director, New York
hperkins@goulstonstorrs.com+1 212 878 5129Related Expertise
Hara Perkins advises developers, investors, national retailers, and city agencies in high-value real estate transactions nationwide. Her practice spans acquisitions, dispositions, joint ventures, ground leases, commercial condominium structures, and debt and equity financings, across various asset classes. Hara structures transactions that align long-term business objectives with practical execution, often involving complex stakeholder dynamics, layered capital structures, and sophisticated ownership, leasing, or condominium arrangements, including mixed-use and affordable housing components.
While her practice is national in scope, Hara remains deeply connected to New York City and has played a leading role in some of the City’s most notable development projects. Her experience includes work on major mixed-use developments and institutional campuses, as well as long-term ground lease and commercial condominium structures and public-private transactions that have shaped prominent urban sites.
Clients value Hara for her judgment, commercial instincts, and consensus-driven approach to dealmaking. She is frequently called upon to guide transactions that require creative problem solving, strategic negotiation, and a steady hand through complexity. Hara serves as Administrative Head of the firm’s New York City Office and is a member of the firm’s Executive Committee.
Related Representative Matters
Major retailer in connection with a nationwide acquisition and development program involving warehouse and distribution centers, depot facilities, and associated outparcel uses, including fuel facilities.
The City of New York in connection with a strategic land swap with the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, transferring control of 122 acres of Brooklyn waterfront to facilitate redevelopment of the Brooklyn Marine Terminal in exchange for the City’s 225-acre interest in the Howland Hook Marine Terminal on Staten Island.
Lowe Enterprises in connection with the negotiation of a long-term ground lease, acquisition leasehold financing and construction leasehold financing, for a mixed-use development on Howard University’s campus.
Forest City Ratner Companies as master builder of the Cornell Tech Campus, a 12-acre net-zero campus on Roosevelt Island integrated with a central utility plant, and as developer of The Bridge at Cornell Tech condominium, involving a complex overlay of ground lease and commercial condominium regimes.
New York City Economic Development Corporation in connection with the sale and development of Essex Crossing, a 1.65 million-square-foot mixed-use redevelopment on the Lower East Side, incorporating 1,100 units of housing, retail, office, open space, and community facilities, completed after decades of stakeholder negotiations.
Jonathan Rose Companies in connection with the acquisition, financing, and redevelopment of income-restricted multifamily properties nationwide, including joint venture negotiations, purchase and sale transactions, and HUD, Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, and conventional debt financings.
General Theological Seminary in the redevelopment and repositioning of its campus, including a zoning lot development agreement, ground leases, condominium conversions, and Attorney General and court approval for the dispositions.
Affordable housing developers and investors in connection with over $10 billion in Low Income Housing Tax Credit transactions (including large portfolio acquisitions, expiring use deals and upper tier secondary sales).
National bank’s CDC in preferred equity investments for workforce housing projects around the country.
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In the News
Law360
April 1, 2025
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Accolades
- Crain's Leading Women Lawyers in New York City, 2018, 2019
- City & State New York's Top 30 Remarkable Women, 2018
- Martindale Hubbell Peer-Review Rated AV® Preeminent™
- Kaufman Public Service Fellowship, 2003
Affiliations
- Yale Alumni Real Estate Association, Co-Chair
- Kokushi Budo Institute, Shidoin
- Formerly management committee member of ULI NY
Admissions
- New York
- District of Columbia
Education
Harvard Law School ( J.D. , 2003 )
Yale University ( B.A. , cum laude , 2000 )—Phi Beta Kappa