Will Reinvigorate Student Life at University of Puerto Rico’s Mayagüez Campus
FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. – August 09, 2018 – Becker, a multi-practice commercial law firm with attorneys, lobbyists and other professionals at offices throughout the East Coast, today announced that it has been retained by the Government of Puerto Rico to oversee a multi-million dollar public-private partnership (P3) project for the University of Puerto Rico’s Mayagüez Campus.
P3s are mutually advantageous arrangements allowing public needs to be met with private financing, ingenuity and experience and permits the public sector to transfer some of the risks of such projects to the private sector.
The Student Life Project at Mayagüez Campus will bundle the design, build, finance, operations and maintenance of an on-campus student residence hall, parking facilities, retail shops and additional capital improvements.
“The Student Life Project will set the standard for what development in Puerto Rico will be going forward,” said Lee Weintraub, a shareholder and co-chair of the firm’s Public, Private Partnership (P3) Practice Group. “The impact to the University of Puerto Rico system to accommodate student life as well as building throughout Puerto Rico through the use of P3s could be game changing.”
The Puerto Rico Public-Private Partnerships Authority with the University of Puerto Rico have shortlisted two consortia to proceed to the competitive procurement process for the Project, which is expected to be completed by early January of 2019. The Project is estimated to be completed by July 2021.
P3s are part of a larger initiative by Puerto Rico to attract more than $500 million in investment from private companies seeking to operate or improve infrastructure including airports, passenger ferries, seaports and student facilities.
Jennifer Bales Drake, co-chair of the P3 Group, added, “P3s are an innovative and effective tool to carry out many of the infrastructure projects that Puerto Rico needs, and Becker is pleased to counsel Puerto Rico on its first higher education public-private partnership. We expect to see additional P3 projects going forward in Puerto Rico.”
About Becker
Becker, with headquarters in Fort Lauderdale, Fla., is a multi-practice commercial law firm with attorneys, lobbyists and other professionals at offices throughout the East Coast. More information is available at www.beckerlawyers.com.