CHICAGO — The U.S. Department of Transportation completed Chicago's $288 million Transportation Infrastructure Finance Innovation Act loan to help fund an $817 million consolidated car rental and intermodal facility at O'Hare International Airport.
Mayor Rahm Emanuel last week announced that the city and federal government had closed on the loan, paving the way for the start of construction. The city was formally invited to apply for the loan in June. The deal rounds out the financing package following the issuance earlier this month of $247 million of O'Hare customer facility charge bonds.
"This intermodal facility is one of the largest capital improvements constructed at O'Hare, and will further Chicago's ongoing efforts to make O'Hare the most convenient international travel hub in the world," Emanuel said in statement.
The senior lien bonds sold earlier this month received a rating of Baa1 from Moody's Investors and BBB from Standard & Poor's. The then-anticipated TIFIA loan carries a junior lien pledge. The bonds are secured by collections of customer charges and facility lease payments.
The new facility would consolidate car rental functions and provide additional public parking in a five-level structure, a bus plaza, and extend the airport transit system known as the people-mover. The facility is expected to provide cost savings to the rental companies and reduce the amount of vehicles and buses on the terminal roadways, easing traffic congestion, travel times, and pollution.
The rental car facility costs $362 million, the people mover extension $371 million, and the parking expansion $84 million. The financing package relies on bond proceeds, the TIFIA loan, previously issued revenue bonds and other airport funds. The city originally estimated the price tag at $765 million but as part of the TIFIA loan review it was raised to $800 million.
The rental companies could have withdrawn from their leases if the TIFIA loan was not approved for at least $200 million. The loan is the second received by the city under the TIFIA program. In June, the city received a $99 million loan for its Chicago Riverwalk redevelopment downtown.
