Law360 Tells How FaegreBD Sealed the Gary/Chicago Airport P3 Deal

Law360 highlighted a team from Faegre Baker Daniels in a March 2014 "Sealing the Deal" feature about the Gary/Chicago International Airport's $100 million public-private partnership.

Rich Hill and Regina Sharrow were lead deal counsel for the airport authority in Gary, Indiana, "piloting it to a P3 deal that maintains public control of the airport assets while bringing in private investors and a private company to manage it," Law360 reported. The deal guarantees a total $100 million investment with AFCO AvPorts Airport Management LLC as the primary investor and manager of the airport.

Hill and Sharrow described to Law360 the challenge of attracting strong investment proposals at a small airport in a struggling city where there are few existing private investment projects. They helped the airport test the waters by issuing a request for expression of interests and for qualifications.

The FaegreBD team also negotiated an agreement for redevelopment of property around the airport. "Here we were really saying there is a bunch of property around the airport and that the airport is really more valuable if that property is developed," Sharrow said. "The connection between the airport and the development was unique."

The deal is expected to improve the airport and spur economic development and job creation in Gary. "There just are not sufficient resources on the public side," Hill said. "This P3 was to encourage private investment both in the airport proper and the surrounding area. It was to create a structure that would facilitate private investment."