Comer keeps families in mind when negotiating deals and tax credits

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When Mercury Marine said it was considering a move of its boat motor manufacturing facilities and headquarters from Fond du Lac to Stillwater, Okla., it seemed like the Badger State might see another big business go south.

Six weeks of negotiations later, the city and county had the legal pathway for tens of millions of dollars in loans, tax credits and land to keep the employer in state.

The woman helping to arrange those complex deals was Ann Comer of Quarles & Brady LLP.

A 20-year veteran of the real estate and finance team at the Quarles Milwaukee office, Comer and fellow lawyers and staff lined up ways for the county to retain Mercury through an economic development corporation.

As the potential loss of the distinct business disrupted union efforts and threatened economic ripples in the county, Fond du Lac County Executive Allen Buechel said Comer was integral in balancing municipal interests in a deal with counsel from New York City firms representing the manufacturer.

“To work out the agreement, it was more in the fine details than [in] the broad principles,” he said, “and Ann displayed a great deal of professionalism, a lot of tenacity and was very capable of maintaining her position to develop a multi-layered agreement.”

Comer, who has been part of the low-income tax credit practice at Quarles since she arrived, said working on the Mercury deal had the same human element. Similar to her work connecting low-income families and the elderly with affordable housing, Comer said her work to keep Mercury and its jobs in the area gave those negotiations particular importance “because these are people’s lives.”

“It was a little different than the day-in and day-out kind of work I do, because there were many parties involved,” she said. “It had to be negotiated so that everyone at the table was happy with the result.”

Comer, who is married with two grown children, said she has families in mind when directing tax credit transactions to put families in homes of their own.

She has joined with the firm’s expanded efforts in Community Development Block Grants for state businesses and owner/borrower agreements for those affected by Hurricane Katrina.

“I think that to touch a person and make a person’s life better, no matter what line of work you’re in, that makes you feel good,” Comer said. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OSyUi5JlPZ8