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Unsolicited offer for Virginia Port
2009/4/3
A Chicago-area real estate company has proposed an unsolicited 60-year concession to operate the Port of Virginia that would give the state an up-front payment of US$500 million and $8.9 billion over the life of the deal, the Bond Buyer reported.
CenterPoint Properties, a for-profit Oak Brook, Ill-based company, proposed the public-private partnership last month to state officials. Virginia Secretary of Transportation Pierce Homer last week signed off on the bid, opening it up to other competing proposals.
The Virginia Port Authority (VPA) currently owns and operates four cargo facilities on behalf of the state. Virginia International Terminals Inc, a nonprofit corporation that was set up by the VPA in 1981, operates the state-owned marine terminals, including Norfolk International Terminals, Portsmouth Marine Terminal, Newport News Marine Terminal, and the Virginia Inland Port.
Under the proposal, CenterPoint would control and essentially lease the four facilities and a planned Craney Island terminal, but the ports would remain state-owned.
The port is the third largest on the East Coast, behind New York and Savannah, and is the sixth largest in the country, according to the VPA.
The authority is now accepting competitive bids from other private companies until July 27, after which it will form a panel to begin to evaluate proposals and whether to accept any of the bids.
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2009/4/3