Jay Hailey of Austin, partner in the global law firm, DLA Piper, visits with Strategic Partnerships, Inc. President and CEO Mary Scott Nabers at last week's DLA Piper 2013 Global Real Estate Summit in Chicago.

The take-away from the conference is that there is

optimism in the commercial property market. And that could very well open up the possibility of public-private partnerships for office buildings, industrial property, medical centers, hotels, multi-family housing, parking garages and more. The commercial real estate industry is sitting on capital that government officials would love to access, given their current budgetary constraints. Outside capital that can be used on projects - especially those that create revenue - is a revenue source they'd all like to have in their financial tool boxes. And those government officials would also like to participate in a partnership that would lead to economic development and possibly add commercial properties to their tax rolls.

Governor pushes both chambers toward providing $1 billion per year

Gov. Deval Patrick

Massachusetts lawmakers are busy working on a compromise bill that would allow an increase in the state's gas and cigarette taxes, the proceeds of which would help finance transportation projects in the state. Gov. Deval Patrick is just as busy working to ensure the increases provide about $800 million for those projects.

The most recent version of the bill in the House would have raised only $500 million for transportation improvements and would have resulted in a three-cent increase in the state gas tax and a $1 increase in the cigarette tax. It would also increase taxes on software services, utilities and multi-state corporations. The bill in the other chamber would not only provide those same increases in taxes, but would also use some of the funds from the gas tax previously directed to removal of contaminated underground fuel storage tanks to ensure the $800 million would be available in FY 2017. The Senate version also would restore some passenger vehicle tolls on portions of Interstate 291. That alone could raise an additional $12 million per year and would be earmarked only for road, rail and transit projects in four Massachusetts counties.

Patrick, who has been seeking $1 billion per year for transportation needs, has vowed to veto the House version of the bill and although he finds the Senate version a bit more palatable, is still seeking $1 billion per year.

In the meantime, both chambers have given initial approval of a bill that would provide $300 million for a program that awards annual grants to local communities to help with their road and bridge improvements. That would be a 50 percent increase over last year's allotment. Both chambers will have to give final approval before the measure goes to the governor for his signature.

Cities, schools, community colleges, special districts seek voter OK for funding

More than $5.1 billion in bond issues will be decided this week in Texas. The May 11 bond referendums are for cities, community colleges, hospital districts and more than four-dozen public school districts of all sizes throughout the state. There will likely be millions of dollars' worth of contracting opportunities to result from those initiatives that pass - for architectural services, engineering services, construction contracting, HVAC systems, furniture resellers, security systems, technology and more.

Here's a sampling of some of the bond issues:

• A suburban city near Dallas is seeking approval of more than $98 million in bonds that will help pay for park improvements, road construction and repair, economic development and rec center improvements;
• A Houston-area community college will ask voters to pass a $498 million bond issue. It includes funding for new buildings at several campuses, parking solutions, safety and security projects, technology infrastructure upgrades and more;
• A hospital district in Upton County is floating a $20 million bond issue that would result in construction of a new 6,000-square-foot hospital facility with a nursing home;
• A Central Texas school district will ask voters to approve an $892 million bond issue that would fund major renovations such as roof repairs, HVAC upgrades, building infrastructure renovations, safety and security projects and more;
• A small school district near Amarillo is seeking passage of an $8.5 million bond election to provide funding for technology equipment to include iPads, notebooks and smart boards as well as security improvements, playground equipment, buses, roof repairs and the addition of paved curbs and gutters.

SPI's May 2013 Bond Report includes important details on the more than 100 bond elections up for a vote. It also will include election results and an outline of bond proposals under consideration for November of this year and beyond. For more information or to purchase your copy, click here.

Florida school district could add several elementary schools

As many as five new K-8 schools could be built in the Orange County, Florida, school district over the next five to six years. The district has three K-8 schools already. In Parramore, hundreds of students have been bused to eight elementary schools in the district as part of a desegregation order. School officials have decided that community will get a new K-8 school that will end the need for busing. Additionally, a K-8 school is planned for the Wedgefield community in East Orange. Both the Wedgefield and Parramore schools will be paid for with allocated funds, money from cost savings and donations. The board is also considering new K-8 schools in Audubon Park, Lake Como and at the site of the existing Pershing Elementary. Those two schools could only be built if voters approve continuation of a half-cent sales tax that expires in 2015. That issue will be resolved when board members decide to put it on a ballot before taxpayers.

Eleven schools in West Virginia will share $49 million for construction projects

John Hudson

A dozen schools in West Virginia will share more than $49 million being distributed by the State School Building Authority. Only 11 of the 21 systems seeking funding were awarded funds. Boone County School Superintendent John Hudson was among the lucky recipients, as Boone County Schools received more than $1.7 million toward a project at Sherman Jr./Sr. High. The funds were sought for the last two years to address safety issues at the school. Hudson said the local school district adding $237,000 helped make the allocation a reality. Other funding allocated includes:  

• Cabell County, $3.5 million for additions and renovations at Culloden Elementary School;
• Pendleton County, $9.8 million to build a new Franklin Elementary School;
• Berkeley County, $5.9 million for renovations at Martinsburg North Middle School;
• Harrison County, $8.1 million for a new Lumberport Middle School;
• Wood County, $2.6 million for additions and renovations to Edison Middle School;
• Webster County, $4.4 million for renovations at Webster County High School;
• Ritchie County, $4.5 million for upgrades at Harrisville Elementary School;
• Lewis County, $3.1 million for an addition and renovations to the Jane Lew Elementary School;
• Preston County, $4 million for a new West Preston Middle School;
• Wyoming County, $1.25 million to complete the project budget for the new Huff Consolidated PK-8 School;
• Wetzel County, $239,000 for improvements to Long Drain School, New Martinsville School, Paden City Elementary School and Short Line School; and
• Wayne County, a $250,000 planning grant to help determine how the county can pay for a new consolidated Ceredo-Kenova Elementary School and a Pre-K through 8th grade school in Crum.

Prime contractor will seek subcontractors for residential district at Ohio State

Messer Construction Co. has won the contract to lead the project team that will build Ohio State's $370 million, 3,200-bed North Residential District. But, the company already has indicated it will seek to add minority- and women-owned construction firms to the team. One company official said the bids will be broken into smaller packages and give small and minority businesses an opportunity to bid and win. In addition to adding the residential facilities, the project includes recreation and dining centers. When the initial cost was estimated at $396 million, Ohio State officials asked potential bidders for ideas for reducing that cost. The firm awarded the contract said those savings will be realized through efficiencies in construction techniques, the construction schedule and the final design. Construction is expected to begin this summer or early fall. Hundreds of subcontractors and more than 1,000 construction workers are expected to participate in the project.  

Indiana school district to build new middle school facility

The Randolph Central school district in Indiana will soon get a $5.9 million middle school facility thanks to recent school board action. The new school will be located on the Winchester Community High School campus. The 32,800-square-foot building will include a two-story classroom addition and an administrative suite.

Los Angeles officials approve $4.8 billion project for airport

City officials recently approved a $4.8 billion project at the Los Angeles International Airport (LAX) that would move the northernmost runway closer to a pair of LA neighborhoods. The goal, they say, is to more safely accommodate larger, modern planes. The project would also create a transportation station near the airport for light rail and connect passenger terminals through an elevated people mover. The current airfield was built in the 1960s to accommodate much smaller planes than today's models. The project also would demolish Terminals 1, 2 and 3, consolidate its rental car facility and make improvements to roads. Before the project can get off the ground, it must first be approved by the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors and the Federal Aviation Administration.

New York, New Jersey get funds for water facilities damaged by storm

Judith Enck

The cities of New York and New Jersey will share $569 million from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to make improvements to their wastewater and drinking water facilities that were damaged last year by Superstorm Sandy. The funds are part of a bill that included $600 million for such improvements. Sequestration led to that figure being trimmed to $570 million. New Jersey will get $229 million of the total and the remaining $340 million will go to New York. The money will be used for upgrades to water and wastewater plants and for green water infrastructure systems aimed at reducing combined sewer overflows. Because some wastewater plants lost power or were flooded, they could no longer treat sewage and that sewage seeped into waterways. The projects that will be eligible for funding will be those that can upgrade water facilities to the point that they can withstand storms in the future that might have the same power as Sandy, said EPA Regional Administrator Judith Enck. "In the future, we believe this funding will make it possible to keep clean drinking water flowing and raw sewage contained, during major storms," said Enck. The projects could include making backup power available, developing green infrastructure to mitigate storm surge and building barriers to prevent flooding. New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo said the funds will be instrumental in repairing "vital infrastructure" damaged by the storm, while ensuring better and stronger infrastructure in the future.

 

Construction partners sought for wind power transmission lines

Clean Line Energy Partners LLC, a Houston-based company that is developing the Grain Belt Express Clean Line wind power transmission line, is looking for businesses in Kansas and Missouri to help build the line. The project is expected to begin in 2016 and to start operation in 2018. It is expected to export more than 3,500 megawatts of wind energy from Western Kansas. The company will seek construction partners during open houses in Missouri this summer. The company has already established public utility status in Kansas and will file for a similar status in Missouri this summer. The route is expected to be closer to St. Joseph than to the Kansas City metro area. The company is seeking to capitalize on the wind energy demand since wind energy prices have dropped more than 50 percent over a two-year period. 

 

Duluth to seek developers for retail, entertainment, residential projects downtown

Tim Shearer

The city of Duluth and the Downtown Development Authority will seek developers for a retail/entertainment district and residential neighborhood downtown. The city will establish a timeline for releasing a Request of Qualifications and for selecting developers for a retail and dining district and a residential neighborhood in two locations in the downtown area. A Request for Proposals would follow to qualified developers. The projects could be financed through issuance of bonds. The RFQ is to be issued in May with responses due in June. A short list of qualified developers would be completed in July. RFPs would follow, with responses due in September. The developer(s) would be selected in October and an agreement developed in November, according to Duluth City Manager Tim Shearer. A consulting firm has been hired to develop a master plan and that plan is expected to be presented in July or August.

 

Philly approves bill to allow digital advertising on public property

The Philadelphia City Council has approved a bill that would allow digital advertising on publicly owned properties. City officials said they will first seek a Request for Proposals for advertising on city-owned vehicles. A consultant estimated that the city could net as much as $8 million from advertising on public buildings, bus shelters and trash trucks. 

 

Check out these recent awards: 

Public-private partnership will ensure Goethals Bridge replacement

Construction on the replacement of the Goethals Bridge in New York is expected to begin later this year, thanks to a public-private partnership. The project is being financed by New York-based NYNJ Link Partnership and will be repaid with interest. While the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey will continue to collect tolls for the bridge when it is completed, it will be obligated to pay the financing back over a 40-year term. The bridge replacement is estimated to cost $1.5 billion. The partnership awarded the contract will design, build, finance and maintain the bridge. It will also be responsible for demolishing the old bridge. The project is one of three that will be undertaken by the Port Authority, including resurfacing the Outerbridge Crossing and raising the Bayonne Bridge road bed to allow for Panamax container ships to access the New York Container Terminal and New Jersey ports.  

 

OSU-Mercy Health System consider public-private partnership

Burns Hargis

Oklahoma State University's Medical Center is vetting a possible public-private partnership with Mercy Health Systems in Oklahoma City. The OSU facility is seeking state appropriation of $18.25 million and says a partnership with the Mercy System would provide more financial stability. Under consideration is allowing Mercy to provide management of the teaching hospital and would help with recruiting students for the college's College of Osteopathic Medicine. OSU President Burns Hargis said talks about a possible partnership have been going on between the two entities for about six months. "We understand fellow Catholic health-care systems in Tulsa and community leaders want time to consider the outgrowth of a partnership between Mercy and OSU on the overall marketplace," he said. Because of a shortage of physicians in rural areas of the state, officials realize the need for a teaching hospital. Mercy officials note that the OSU facility can certainly help in trying to alleviate the shortage of primary physicians in the state and that is instrumental in their interest in a partnership with OSU.

 

California city relying on public-private partnerships for revitalization

Public-partnerships could be the key to the revitalization of the downtown area in Watsonville, California, according to officials there. A committee that includes city officials as well as business and property owners are planning five workshops beginning in June to discuss their options. Its recommendations will be forthcoming early next year. While there has been activity in the downtown area from the public sector, the private sector has not made much of an investment in businesses downtown. Between high rents and property owners not willing to sell, private investment has practically stood still. The first thoughts of a public-private partnership was a discussion last year when the city approved a swap of public land for a private site to help a pharmacy development downtown. The project, however, has been stalled by state regulations regarding cleanup of storm water. Consideration is also being given to the possibility of the city taking over Highway 152 so that a more pedestrian-friendly downtown area could be designed, with expectation of additional development.

 

Are you a government official who has moved into a new position or to a new agency? Did you recently retire? Were you recently named to an executive-level position at a state-supported college, university or community college? Have you secured a new job as superintendent of a public school? If so, we'd like to hear from you - and so would your friends and colleagues - for our "Where Are They Now" column. Just drop us a line at editor@spartnerships.com and let us know about your previous job and where you are now. This week we feature Marc Touitou.

Marc Touitou

Marc Yves Touitou holds an Executive MBA degree from Temple University in Philadelphia, and attended organizational behavior courses at the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania and the Institute of Management in Information at the University of Technology of Compiègne in Paris, France. Touitou has more than 30 years of extensive experience in all aspects of Information Technology (IT). From 1986-1999, he worked for Rohm and Haas, a specialty chemical company in Paris. He held positions of increasing responsibilities leading to his transfer to Philadelphia in 1993. He became the company's Global Technology Director and later accepted the coatings business CIO position, which he held until the end of 2002. From 2002-2011, Touitou served as senior vice president and chief information officer at ASML, a Netherlands semiconductor company. Touitou was recently tapped by San Francisco Mayor Edwin M. Lee to be the city's new chief information officer and director of the Department of Technology. He will advise the mayor, Board of Supervisors and city departments regarding opportunities to provide higher quality, more timely and more cost-effective governmental services; develop uniform policies and coordinated systems for the use, acquisition and implementation of the ICT technologies; and establish citywide standards and procedures to ensure cost-effective and useful retrieval and exchange of information both within and among the various city departments and between the city to residents and businesses. Touitou will supervise the approximately 200 employees of the Department of Technology and an annual operating budget of $75 million.

 

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Five-term North Carolina State Rep. Deborah Ross (top left), who also works for the law firm Styers, Kemerait & Mitchell, will step down to take a job with Triangle Transit as the organization's new general counsel, effective June 17. Thomas Elzey (top center), executive vice president for finance, administration and operations at The Citadel, has been chosen as the new president of South Carolina State University. President Barack Obama has nominated Charlotte, North Carolina, Mayor Anthony Foxx (top right), who also serves as staff attorney for Charlotte hybrid bus maker DesignLine, to be secretary of transportation. Bob Rusten, currently deputy city manager for South Burlington, has been chosen as the new chief administrative officer for the city of Burlington, Vermont. Kinnelon, New Jersey, Interim Superintendent of Schools Diane DiGiuseppe has dropped "interim" from her title and will succeed retiring Superintendent James Opiekun as superintendent. New Orleans Fire Department Superintendent Charles Parent, who has served as superintendent for the last decade, has announced he is retiring, but will stay on until a replacement is found. The long-time associate superintendent of the Ruidoso Municipal School District, Patty White (middle right), who has been employed by the Ruidoso Municipal School District for 18 years, has submitted her resignation. Horatio Porter (middle center), Fort Worth chief financial officer, replacing Janice Davis, who was moved to assistant executive director of strategic and innovative solutions. President Barack Obama has nominated Rep. Melvin Watt (middle left) to head the Federal Housing Finance Agency, who would replace Edward DeMarco. Ware County School Superintendent Dr. Joseph "Jody" C. Barrow, Jr. received unanimous approval by the Fayette County (Georgia) Board of Education and will serve as superintendent of Fayette County schools beginning July 1. Concord University President Gregory Aloia has resigned, and announced that he has accepted the same position at the College of Coastal Georgia, where he will begin his new job on July 1. The Canutillo (Texas) Independent School District has hired Dr. Pedro Galaviz, currently the executive director of secondary schools for the Round Rock school district, as its new superintendent. The Yosemite Community College District's Board of Trustees has dismissed Dennis Gervin (bottom left), president of Columbia College, in Sonora, California, from the post he has held since 2011. Idaho State University has announced that Laura Woodworth-Ney (bottom center), ISU associate vice president for academic affairs the past three years, is its new provost and vice president for academic affairs. The search committee for Connecticut's Board of Regents for Higher Education has recommended Gregory W. Gray (bottom right), chancellor of the Riverside (California) Community College District, as the board's new president to oversee the group that governs 12 community colleges, four state universities and the state's online institution. The Sweetwater County (Wyoming) School District 1 board of trustees on Wednesday selected Mathew Neal, director of innovation strategy and operations for Denver Public Schools, as the district's next superintendent, effective July 1. Lt. Sean Cox, the Connecticut state police lieutenant formerly in charge of Gov. Dannel P. Malloy's 1-member security detail of state troopers, has been named East Hampton's new police chief. The Hays CISD in Kyle, Texas, has named Michael McKie, current interim superintendent for Fort Bend ISD, as the lone finalist for new superintendent, to replace Dr. Jeremy Lyon, who left to become the superintendent in Frisco ISD.