Another Tool to Build Public Infrastructure in Post-Redevelopment California

Add FIAs, to CFDs, IFDs, and EIFDs, as public infrastructure project funding tools in the post redevelopment TIF California. FIA stands for Facilities Improvement Association, and CFD stands for Community Facilities District. IFD stands for Infrastructure Financing District, and EIFD stands for Enhanced Infrastructure Financing District. Jim Chappell, former director of the San Francisco Planning and Urban Research Association (SPUR) and development consultant explains how it's being used to build new facilities at UC San Francisco's Mission Bay campus. There, it's called the CFIA for Campus Facilities Improvement Association:

Traditionally, to build new buildings, UC has gone through a standard procurement process, developing a program, selecting an architect, overseeing the design, putting the building out to bid, and managing its construction. Public contract law requires competitive bidding, a good protection of the public’s dollars, but not always the best way to get the best building. In this traditional model, the State provides the money, the University owns and operates and maintains the building, again dependent on the legislature coming up with the annual draw.

Enter CFIA, a public private partnership that is a long-term deal (for 30 years minimum).  It is a unique negotiated partnership that introduces risk and reward into the picture and arrives at a more flexible negotiated cost, and includes long-term management of the building by the private partner. CFIA is a not-for profit 501(c)(3) entity.

So far, we have successfully developed one building, and are just beginning the second. The Sandler Neurosciences Center is a 240,000 square foot $174 million LEED Silver laboratory building on the main quad, designed by Skidmore Owings and Merrill, and developed and maintained by a joint venture, Edgemoor McCarthy Cook.

Chappell goes on to explain how the CFIA works.