Squire Patton Boggs has served as co-bond counsel to the New York Transportation Development Corporation (NYTDC), a local development corporation and affiliate of Empire State Development, which is the umbrella organization for economic development for the State of New York, on a conduit revenue bond issuance for JFK International Air Terminal LLC. The total value of all three series of bonds (Series 2020A, 2020B, 2020C) is US$934,995,000, and the transaction closed in Q4 of 2020.
The financing from the bonds will be used to: (i) defease in full the outstanding Port Authority of New York and New Jersey Special Project Bonds, Series 6 and Series 8, and (ii) repay a subordinated investment from the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey to JFK International Air Terminal LLC. The collective prior financings were originally issued to cover the costs associated with the development, construction and expansion of a new passenger terminal at JFK International Airport. The terminal, known as Terminal 4, opened to the public in 2001, and from 2010 – 2015, was further expanded.
Despite the uncertainty surrounding the global pandemic and the halt it has brought to the aviation industry, NYTDC, as a conduit issuer, was able to issue its bonds in order for JFK International Air Terminal LLC to achieve debt service savings in the low interest rate environment.
The firm team was led by partners Alethia Nancoo, Catie Romanchek, John Thomas, and Johnny Hutchinson, and associate Alexis Chandler.