Fitch Ratings said it upgraded the Florida Department of Transportation's 270 million Transportation Infrastructure Finance and Innovation Act (TIFIA) rental car facility loan for the Miami Intermodal Center to A-minus from BBB.
The rating outlook is revised to stable from positive.
The upgrade is based on successful project completion including the rental car facility and associated MIA Mover project, a year of successful operations and better than expected rental car activity and related customer facility charge collections.
The combination of these factors as well as lower project operating costs could result in the TIFIA loans being repaid well ahead of prior forecasts.
The rental car facility was completed in July 2010 while the MIA Mover was placed in operation in September 2011. Since opening of these facilities, project operating costs appear to be within budget.
With the support of strong airport passenger traffic growth at Miami International Airport over the past three years, rental car transaction days have surged 24% which is well ahead of earlier forecasts.
Revised base case forecasts indicate the TIFIA debt can be paid off in 2024, which is well ahead of both the initial projection of 2037 when final TIFIA loan was made in 2007 and the TIFIA scheduled final maturity of 2044.
