Congratulations to the Regents of the University of California and the Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority for ARTBA Recognitions
Nossaman would like to congratulate the Regents of the University of California and the Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority for being recognized by the American Road & Transportation Builders Association (ARTBA) during the organization’s 33rd Annual Public Private Partnerships (P3s) in Transportation Conference, held virtually July 15 and 16.
The Regents of the University of California was recognized for the UC Merced 2020 project—which was the winner in the “Community Impact of the Year” category. The award recognizes a project that “demonstrates economic, philanthropic or humanitarian benefit to the public and an improved quality of life for the community and/or users of the asset.” UC Merced 2020 is a $1.3 billion P3 project that doubled the size of the Merced campus with the addition of new facilities, including student housing, classrooms, recreational facilities and associated infrastructure. UC Merced is the most diverse university in the state system and is located in an underserved area of California with a large immigrant population.
The project serves as a model for future higher education capital projects, both within the UC system and nationally. It was completed on schedule and on budget in June 2020—during the pandemic—and was awarded LEED platinum status, making it the first public research university to be certified as carbon neutral. UC Merced 2020 is accommodating growth of the university system's newest campus from the current 6,700 students to 10,000 students in 2020. Procured as an availability payment based P3, it adds approximately 790,000 assignable square feet of new facilities, including student housing, administrative and research space, classrooms, recreational centers and associated infrastructure. Patrick Harder serves as the lead on the project for Nossaman.
The Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority (Metro) was recognized for the Sepulveda Corridor Transit Project—which was the winner in the “Innovation of the Year” category. The award spotlights an idea within a P3 project that demonstrates how the development and/or application of new, innovative and unique management concepts help provide value for users.
The Sepulveda project is a planned 10-mile fixed guideway transit line that will run through challenging geography. More than 400,000 people travel the I-405 freeway through the Sepulveda Pass daily to commute to work, school and other destinations. The project's goal is to connect the San Fernando Valley with the Los Angeles Westside and eventually Los Angeles International Airport (LAX) via a high-speed, high-capacity public transit line.
In 2016, Metro established a new unsolicited proposal policy to invite innovative ideas for project delivery, and soon after, received three unsolicited proposals for delivering the Sepulveda project. Metro worked within procurement regulations to understand the private sector proposers' ideas and assured them that their ideas were being taken seriously. After a thorough evaluation of these proposals, Metro initiated a procurement to select up to two predevelopment partners. Metro now is entering into two separate predevelopment agreements (PDAs): one with LA SkyRail Express, relating to its proposed monorail concept, and one with Sepulveda Transit Corridor Partners – Bechtel, relating to its proposed heavy rail concept. These teams are advancing their concepts in pursuit of the prize of designing, building, financing, operating and maintaining this project once it gets through the environmental process and depending on the locally preferred alternative selected by Metro. Andrée Blais serves as the lead on the project for Nossaman.
News of the awards was reported in various media outlets.