Before an authority can proceed with a procurement, it must first secure or establish the interagency agreements, funding, organizational capacity, programs, and standards of practice necessary to set the groundwork for a successful project. Our attorneys have such experience working with public authorities to establish special purpose public entities and interagency partnerships, to secure necessary funding, build capacity and programs, and develop new forms of documentation and standards of practice.
Representative Experience
- Represented the City and County of Denver in developing and negotiating the governance structure and framework agreements for expanding and redeveloping the current home of the National Western Stock Show into a new, 270-acre, state-of-the art multipurpose campus. This redeveloped facility will continue to house the National Western Stock Show; serve as a hub for year-round creative and experiential educational, research, and commercial activity that promotes, supports, and helps to preserve the western lifestyle while highlighting innovation and global issues of health, food systems, food security, water, and the environment; and provide an attractive environment for additional agricultural business and science investments that position the state as an agricultural innovations cluster leader.
- Advised NJ Transit in connection with the $20bn+ trans-Hudson River Gateway Program, as well as on the $1.5bn Portal North Bridge Project on the Northeast Corridor. Our work advising NJ Transit on the Gateway Program included inter-authority negotiations regarding governance and funding issues with the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, AMTRAK, the States of New York and New Jersey, and the USDOT. We also provided input on bi-state legislation to establish the Gateway Development Commission. Separately, our work on the Portal North Bridge Project included advising on the financial plan for a Core Capacity Grant application to the FTA, regulatory and grant compliance, funding issues, interagency and program implementation issues, as well as other matters.
- Advised New York’s MTA Construction & Development (MTA C&D) in connection with standardization of documentation and approaches for design-build procurements. Recognizing that the MTA has not historically used design-build contracting in the manner in which it is undertaken in other jurisdictions, this work involves advising MTA C&D on approaches to integrate appropriate standard practice with legacy approaches and documentation.
- Played several significant aspects of the redevelopment of the Denver Union Station district and the related transportation infrastructure over the past decade and a half. This included, serving as part of the team selected to prepare the Master Plan for the redevelopment of the station site and the plans for the light rail, commuter rail, AMTRAK, and bus operations, and subsequently advising the master developer on land use and zoning, governance, development agreements, and public financing issues associated with this project. The redevelopment of the station, which served as a catalyst for a district wide redevelopment, was spearheaded by the special purpose Denver Union Station Project Authority (DUSPA). The public infrastructure funding included TIFIA and RRIF loans as well as a significant tax increment component to repay the Federal loans.