On June 1, 2016, the New York Transportation Development Corporation issued over $2.25 billion in tax-exempt bonds as part of a public-private partnership to redevelop the Central Terminal building (known as Terminal B to passengers) at LaGuardia Airport in New York City. As The Bond Buyer reported, the deal broke all kinds of records – it was the largest P3 ever, the largest airport transaction ever, and the largest AMT bond issue ever.
In a ceremony on Thursday at the airport, New York Governor Andrew Cuomo and others gathered to celebrate the opening of the first new concourse. From the pictures in the press, the new concourse looks suspiciously like a modern airport facility; most importantly, news reports say that the new concourse will contain a Shake Shack. We are proud to have served as co-bond counsel with D. Seaton and Associates for the bond issue (had we known there'd be a Shake Shack, we might have gotten more creative with our fee arrangement), and we offer our congratulations to all the participants, including the team at LaGuardia Gateway Partners, the consortium of equity sponsors that was formed to construct and operate the new terminal. The other concourses at the replacement for the Central Terminal are up next, and Delta is working on redeveloping Terminals C and D.
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