RTD has put three projects together as part of the Eagle P3 deal. These include the I-70 East Rail Line to DIA, the Gold Line to Wheat Ridge and a commuter rail maintenance facility. These projects have been collectively accepted by the Federal Transit Authority (FTA) as part of its Public-Private Partnership Pilot Program.

The concession agreement for the Eagle P3 project was awarded in July 2010 to Denver Transit Partners LLC, a partnership among Fluor, John Laing and Lloyds Bank, with team participation from Balfour Beatty Rail, ACI, Ames Construction and HDR.The total capital cost of the project is $2.1 billion, towards which RTD received a full funding grant of $1.03 billion from the FTA. Construction is now well under way.

Denver Union Station

The integrating piece of all these projects is the redevelopment of Denver Union Station. The city of Denver originally created the Downtown Development Authority (DDA) as a tax-increment financing unit covering 40 acres, including the 19-acre Union Station. While not strictly a P3 project, Union Station can be described as an effective public-private collaboration.

It will soon become the transportation hub for the metro Denver area, with continued service by the transcontinental rail lines. They will meet the converging RTD light rail lines, the BRT line to Boulder and the bus hub for downtown Denver, including the 16th Street Mall shuttle and a downtown circulator.

The design-build contract for the transit-center aspect of the development was awarded to Kiewit Western, whose team includes AECOM as transportation infrastructure engineer, Skidmore Owings & Merrill as master planning and transit architect, and Hargreaves Associates as landscape architect.

The integrating piece of all these projects is the redevelopment of Denver Union Station. The city of Denver originally created the Downtown Development Authority (DDA) as a tax-increment financing unit covering 40 acres, including the 19-acre Union Station. While not strictly a P3 project, Union Station can be described as an effective public-private collaboration.

It will soon become the transportation hub for the metro Denver area, with continued service by the transcontinental rail lines. They will meet the converging RTD light rail lines, the BRT line to Boulder and the bus hub for downtown Denver, including the 16th Street Mall shuttle and a downtown circulator.

The design-build contract for the transit-center aspect of the development was awarded to Kiewit Western, whose team includes AECOM as transportation infrastructure engineer, Skidmore Owings & Merrill as master planning and transit architect, and Hargreaves Associates as landscape architect.

Union Station Neighborhood Co. serves as master developer for the $500-million transportation project, which includes five adjacent development parcels: the north and south wings (office buildings), the triangle parcel, and A and B blocks as mixed-use buildings. The collaboration on this redevelopment also includes the Union Station terminal building, where the Union Station Alliance is renovating and developing a 130-room hotel within the historic terminal building, at a cost of $48 million, which will be managed by Sage Hospitality.

Financing for the core transportation project at Union Station includes $155 million each from FTA and the Federal Railroad Administration, $208 million that RTD has pledged to support the TIFIA senior financing, and nine other federal, state and local funding sources, including the proceeds from the sale of the five development parcels and the existing Market Street bus station.  DDA’s revenue from the 40 acres is pledged to repay the 30-year subordinate bonds, with Denver having a “moral obligation/contingent commitment” to cover any shortfall up to $8 million.

Peter Hughes & Gene Commander are attorneys specializing in construction law with the Denver office of Polsinelli Shughart PC.