Kenneth C. Lind

What do you focus on?

COVID-19 and New Infrastructure Financing Opportunities

Since the beginning of 2020, I have been involved in assisting municipal issuers in obtaining favorable results in connection with their liquidity, long-term and short-term restructuring, new money, and disclosure needs, including serving as counsel on two Municipal Liquidity Facility (MLF) transactions, refunding Transportation Infrastructure Finance and Innovation Act (TIFIA) loans and Build America Bonds, and numerous $1 billion+ liquidity financings. I am assisting some of the country’s largest municipal issuers in finding solutions for the issues presented from the combination of adverse revenue impacts from the virus, the availability of additional federal assistance, additional refunding transactions, and opportunities created by the new infrastructure legislation.

Infrastructure

Much of my work involves financings related to infrastructure, primarily transportation and water and wastewater projects. I serve as bond counsel to the Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA)—North America’s largest transportation provider—and its affiliate, the Triborough Bridge and Tunnel Authority (operating nine bridges and tunnels), and the New York City Municipal Water Finance Authority, which provides water to almost ten million residents. I also serve as bond counsel to the Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority’s Dulles Toll Road-Metrorail System Project and the Chesapeake Bay Bridge and Tunnel District parallel tunnel project. Additional major projects that I have worked on include the C-70 public-private partnership (P3) project in Denver; the I-66 HOV P3 project in northern Virginia; the conversion of the Farley Post Office Building in Manhattan into the Moynihan Train Hall, servicing primarily Amtrak and Long Island Rail Road; and the downtown segment of the Ohio River Bridges Project in Louisville, Kentucky. I serve as bond counsel to the Hudson Yards Infrastructure Corporation, which continues to develop the infrastructure necessary to move the central business district to the west side of Manhattan. I have been a part of the Nixon teams that have served as bond counsel on substantially every major infrastructure financing in the billions of dollars affecting the Hudson Yards area, including Hudson Yard Infrastructure Corporation (HYIC) financings, financing and refinancing of the Javits Convention Center and its expansion, and the MTA’s financing of the railyards secured by commercial ground lease payments. I also represent major domestic and international banks in connection with their issuance of liquidity and credit facilities, supporting bonds and notes, as well as their direct purchase thereof.

Federal Funding Sources

I have significant experience creating financings funded in whole or part by federal grants and loans, including TIFIA and Railroad Rehabilitation & Improvement Financing (RRIF) loans, federal highway trust fund moneys and full funding grant agreements, including two of the largest such projects in the country—East Side Access (bringing the Long Island Rail Road into Grand Central Terminal) and the Second Avenue Subway.

Structuring and Compliance Advice

My experience working in-house for over eleven years at the MTA increased my insight into not only the legal, but also the ramifications of structuring complex projects and the financing thereof. This experience has been valuable in advising my clients on matters such as structuring, long-term and interim financing needs, swaps, disclosure, and regulatory compliance.

What do you see on the horizon?

Significant challenges continue to impact the structuring by municipalities of complex infrastructure projects. We have significant experience combining a variety of local, state, and federal funding revenues, together with private equity in a P3 context, to progress major public improvement projects.

Representative Experience

• Co-bond counsel to the New York City Municipal Water Finance Authority in connection with $450 million Water and Sewer System Second General Resolution Revenue Bonds, Series 2022AA in July 2021.
• Co-bond counsel to the New York City Municipal Water Finance Authority in connection with $284 million+ Water and Sewer System Second General Resolution Revenue Bonds, Fiscal 2021 Series 2 supporting the New York State Environmental Facilities Corporation (“EFC”) Series 2021 A Bonds, and $51 million+ Water and Sewer System Second General Resolution Revenue Bonds, Fiscal 2021 Series 3 representing a direct loan with EFC in June 2021.
• Co-bond counsel to Triborough Bridge and Tunnel Authority in connection with $1.2 billion+ Payroll Mobility Tax Senior Lien Bonds, Series 2021A in May 2021, consisting of $633 million+ Subseries 2021A-1 (Tax-Exempt), $356 million+ Subseries 2021A-2 (Tax-Exempt Mandatory Tender Bonds), and $248 million+ Subseries 2021A-3 (Federally Taxable).
• Underwriters counsel in connection with the $100 million The Museum of Modern Art Taxable Bonds, Series 2021 in April 2021.
• Co-bond counsel to the MTA in connection with $700 million Transportation Revenue Bonds, Series 2021A in February 2021, consisting of $495 million Subseries 2021A-1 (Climate Bond Certified) and $205 million Subseries 2021A-2.
• Co-bond counsel to the MTA in connection with $2.9 billion+ Payroll Mobility Tax Bond Anticipation Notes, Series 2020A in December 2020, purchased by Municipal Liquidity Facility LLC under the federal MLF program.
• Co-bond counsel to the MTA in connection with $450 million+ Transportation Revenue Bond Anticipation Notes, Series 2019D in August 2020, the second transaction purchased by Municipal Liquidity Facility LLC under the federal MLF program.
• Underwriters’ counsel in connection with $1 billion+ The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey Consolidated Notes, Series AAA in July 2020 to pay debt service on consolidated bonds or other lawful expenditures.
• Co-bond counsel to the New York City Municipal Water Finance Authority in connection with $700 million+ Water and Sewer System Second General Resolution Revenue Bonds, Fiscal 2020 Series FF and GG in June 2020 to finance and refinance improvements to New York City’s water and sewer system serving almost ten-million customers.
• Co-bond counsel to the MTA in connection with $1.7 billion+ Transportation Revenue Green Bonds, Series 2020C (Climate Bond Certified) in May 2020, MTA’s re-entry into the public credit markets following the onset of COVID-19, consisting of tax-exempt and taxable subseries, to finance and refinance transit and commuter rail projects using certified green bonds.
• Co-bond counsel to the MTA in connection with $1 billion+ Transportation Revenue Bond Anticipation Notes, Series 2019D to finance transit and commuter rail projects.
• Bond counsel to the Chesapeake Bay Bridge and Tunnel District in connection with $378 million+ First Tier General Resolution Revenue Bond Anticipation Notes, Series 2019, payable from the receipts of the TIFIA loan and Virginia Transportation Infrastructure Bank (VTIB) loan for the parallel tunnel project.
• Underwriter’s counsel in connection with $1 billion+ The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey Consolidated Bonds, Series 212-216 to finance and refinance numerous Port Authority projects.
• Co-bond counsel to the Triborough Bridge and Tunnel Authority in connection with the remarketing of $107 million+ General Revenue Variable Rate Bonds, Series 2001B (secured overnight financing rate tender notes), the first municipal bond deal using an alternative to the LIBOR index.
• Co-bond counsel in connection with $1 billion+ MTA Hudson Rail Yards Trust Obligations, Series 2016A, evidencing the interests of the owners thereof in the MTA Financing Agreement Amount payable by the MTA using ground lease payments from the developers of the Hudson Yards property above Long Island Rail Road’s railyards to finance transit and commuter rail projects.
• Counsel to the MTA in connection with its participation in the United States Department of Transportation TIFIA Loan Agreement, dated July 21, 2017, for up to $526 million+, with New York State Urban Development Corporation d/b/a Empire State Development to transform portions of the old post office building into the Moynihan Train Hall Project primarily serving Amtrak and Long Island Rail Road.
• Bond counsel to the HYIC in connection with $2 billion+ Second Indenture Revenue Bonds, refinancing infrastructure improvements, including the extension of the No. 7 subway line, to the west side of Manhattan.
• Underwriter’s counsel in connection with $114 million+ Colorado Bridge Enterprise Senior Revenue Bonds (Central 70 Project), Series 2017 (Private Activity/AMT)—a P3 financing improvements to a downtown Denver thoroughfare.
• Bond counsel to the Virginia Small Business Financing Authority in connection with $737 million Senior Lien Private Activity Revenue Bonds (Transform 66 P3 Project), Series 2017—a P3 financing improvements to I-66 in northern Virginia.
• Bond counsel to the Chesapeake Bay Bridge and Tunnel District in connection with (i) $321 million+ First Tier General Resolution Revenue Bonds, Series 2016; (ii) the United States Department of Transportation TIFIA Loan Agreement, dated November 10, 2016, for up to $338 million+; and (iii) the VTIB Loan Agreement, dated November 10, 2016, from the Virginia Resources Authority, as manager of the VTIB, for up to $50 million, to finance a parallel tunnel project for a twenty-mile bridge and tunnel, connecting eastern portions of Virginia.