Norton Rose Fulbright closes public-private partnership deal for new Travis County Courthouse in Austin

On April 8, 2019 and April 9, 2019, Norton Rose Fulbright closed separate transactions in support of the new Travis County Civil and Family Courts Facility, a US$335 million (approximate) facility at 17^th and Guadalupe in downtown Austin.

This public-private partnership (P3) transaction required the participation of firm lawyers in Austin, San Antonio, New York and Washington, DC.

In putting together the traditional public finance piece, Norton Rose Fulbright represented a syndicate of underwriters, led by Citigroup Global Markets, in connection with the issuance on April 8, 2019, by Travis County of US$330 million in certificates of obligation (the proceeds from which will be used to buy the facility over time in installments).

The public finance team was led by Stephanie Leibe (Austin) with assistance from Matt Lee (San Antonio).

The second component of the transaction centered on securing private construction financing. Norton Rose Fulbright lawyers represented the construction lender, KeyBank National Association, in securing a revolving loan facility that allows the bank to finance construction milestones for the project. This transaction closed on April 9, 2019. 

The construction of the project is expected to take three years to complete, with the Hunt Companies and Chameleon Group Holdings as joint-venture developers and Hensel Phelps as the design-builder.

The construction financing team was co-led by Clay Binford (San Antonio) and Doug Fried (New York) and included Lauren Ferrero (San Antonio), Bryan Patrick, Adam Harden (San Antonio) and Jake Falk (Washington, DC).

This transaction exemplifies Norton Rose Fulbright's ability to oversee and shepherd through complex, multiphase P3 financings. The working group praised Norton Rose Fulbright lawyers for making significant contributions to the courthouse project.