Industries

DALLAS — Two university systems based in Denton, Tex., will use more than $180 million of bond proceeds for new facilities, including a satellite campus in Dallas 35 miles to the south.

The Georgia Department of Transportation today hosts an industry workshop in Atlanta about its new public-private partnership program.

The Florida Legislature begins a special session today to consider creating a statewide passenger rail policy and to approve funding for existing and new rail projects.

CHICAGO — Columbus, Ohio-based Nationwide Children’s Hospital today will begin pricing $100 million of fixed-rate revenue bonds to finance a chunk of its $800 million, six-year capital plan.

A coalition of transportation, environmental, and housing groups is asking House and Senate leaders to limit infrastructure programs in any forthcoming jobs bill to just one year and to direct spending toward the rehabilitation and operation of existing infrastructure instead of new construction projects.

DALLAS — New economic reality may alter the current financial plan for the Denver area’s $6.2 billion FasTracks transportation project, a consultant’s report suggests.

New Jersey pharmaceutical maker Theragen Inc. must immediately now pay all of the outstanding principal and accrued interest on its Series 2005 bonds because the borrower has been in default for more than 60 days, according to trustee Bank of Oklahoma NA.

Moody’s Investors Service last week placed its A1 issuer credit rating for the Health Alliance of Greater Cincinnati on watch list for possible downgrade as the system undergoes changes in its corporate structure.

Fitch Ratings last week downgraded Resurrection Health Care one notch to BBB-plus due to operating losses.

DALLAS — A team of developers will receive the proceeds of $400 million of private-activity bonds this month to finance one of the most ambitious public-private toll operations in Texas: a $2 billion project known as the North Tarrant Express.

WASHINGTON — High-speed rail is the “newest gravy train” in Washington, D.C., with more than 50 public and private groups having registered in the last quarter to lobby for billions of dollars of federal aid — a threefold increase from a year ago, the Center for Public Integrity found in a recent investigation.

The Arkansas Blue Ribbon Committee on Highway Finance said last week it would issue its first series of recommendations on how to finance city, county, and local roadwork in early 2010. Members said they will offer several options for consideration by the public.

CHICAGO — The Clare at Water Tower, an upscale ­high-rise senior-living community in downtown Chicago that has struggled to meet financial ­projections due to cost ­overruns, construction delays, and ­faltering occupancy rates, drew $554,000 from its debt-service reserves to cover its Nov. 15 debt-service payment.

Connecticut will round out the year with a new public-private partnership for highway service plazas. In December, a consortium will take over operations of 23 service plazas and sink in millions of dollars to upgrade the facilities.

WASHINGTON — Alliance, Ohio, disclosed last week that the Internal Revenue Service has concluded an audit of $50 million of hospital revenue bonds it issued in 2003 with no change to the tax-exempt status.

Moody’s Investors Service and Standard & Poor’s recently downgraded Elliot Hospital’s Series 2003B revenue bonds to the triple-B category due to declining liquidity and growing debt levels.

CHICAGO — Smaller urban hospitals are especially vulnerable to fallout from cost-cutting measures that are certain to be part of a final health care reform bill now being debated by Congress, said Moody’s Investors Service.

Fitch Ratings last week stripped the Chesterfield Valley Transportation Development District’s 2006 sales tax bonds of their investment-grade rating as the issuer is expected to tap debt service reserves to fully cover its April payment.

The Pennsylvania Turnpike Commission is watching for an opportunity to refinance nearly $600 million of floating-rate debt, including variable-rate bonds now owned by banks.

WASHINGTON — As infrastructure increasingly plays a key role in investment decisions nationwide, Minneapolis-based Piper Jaffray & Co. has expanded its transportation banking team and added to its Northeast staff.