Tuesday, July 20, 2010

NNSA Closes $687 Lease Financing of Manufacturing Facility in Kansas City

citybizlist.com - July 15, 2010

CGA Capital Corp. and affiliates have closed a $687 million structured lease-back financing that opens the door for the construction of a 1.5 million-square-foot manufacturing facility to serve as the National Security Campus for the National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA). The $4.76 billion campus will be developed in Kansas City, Mo.

Baltimore-based CGA Capital was assisted by a team of attorneys from Ballard Spahr LLP, serving as exclusive financial adviser and structuring agent for the complex public-private venture, and was the sole arranger of the private placement of bonds through a venture with a privately held securities firm. CGA's efforts covered every aspect of devising and structuring the financing needed for the project, which will break ground in August.

The CGA team was led by managing directors and principals W. Kyle Gore and Richard A. Jacobs, and included Duncan Swanston and various principals at Bostonia Global Securities LLC. The Ballard Spahr team was led by Fred Wolf III and included Thomas A. Hauser, Charles R. Moran, Alan S. Ritterband, Benjamin A. Kelley, Michael T. Kersten, and Anna Mahaney.

The five-building campus will be the primary producer of nonnuclear mechanical, electronic, and engineered materials for the U.S. nuclear weapons arsenal and other national security missions. The transaction is secured with a 20-year credit-tenant lease with the U.S. General Services Administration. The near $5 billion cost includes design, construction, equipment and the lease. CenterPoint Zimmer LLC, an affiliate of Chicago-based CenterPoint Properties Trust, is the developer of the campus.

The NNSA currently operates in a World War II-era plant in Kansas City. The new campus, which will include a research facility, represents one of the largest commercial projects in the U.S.

The development site is a farm near the existing NNSA facilty. The acreage is owned by the Planned Industrial Expansion Authority of Kansas City. NNSA's operations at the project will be managed by Honeywell Federal Manufacturing & Technologies LLC, which operates the current facility.

The campus is slated for completion in 2014. It is one of the largest public-private GSA projects in its history, with estimates that 2,500 jobs will be created with the completion. Sphere: Related Content

No comments:

Wikinvest Wire