Winter Issue 2022 - 52

" Everyone's looking to see what kind of funding sources are coming out of the
federal government for infrastructure and housing. "
-JENNIFER McELYEA, WATT INVESTMENT PARTNERS
projects in order to speed up the delivery of
innovative and novel approaches.
ROTHMAN: The pandemic has helped both
sides realize how much more their interests
need to be aligned in a public/private partnership.
Many cities allowed restaurants to
operate outdoors in what were previously
public rights-of-way. That's likely to continue
to be a regulatory model. The interesting
question is whether it also becomes a contractual
pricing model. Post-pandemic, cities
might raise revenues this way, offering concessions
to restaurants and other vendors
to use public-rights-of way to expand dining
opportunities.
What kinds of project types present
great opportunities for public/private
partnerships in the coming year?
BARNEY: In New Orleans, Hurricane Ida
knocked out New Orleans's entire power grid.
So I think there will be opportunities around
energy and cogeneration. Redundancy and
resiliency are the name of the game. That
will accelerate as climate continues to affect
energy delivery. I can imagine a time when
a mixed-use development has a competitive
advantage by having its own source of
power or some other resiliency relative to the
city's power grid. Think of Texas-when there
was a freeze and people couldn't heat their
homes. So I think power delivery will present
some opportunities for public/private partnerships.
Fiber-optic networks and 5G also
present opportunities. The amount of data
consumption that companies will require to
create AI [artificial intelligence] and autonomous
vehicles and nanotechnology is so high
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URBAN LAND
WINTER 2022
that cities will have to invest in data to fuel
innovation and remain competitive.
McELYEA: Everyone's looking to see what
kind of funding sources are coming out of
the federal government for infrastructure and
housing. Often, putting in horizontal infrastructure
or an affordable housing component
doesn't offer private developers positive
returns, so being able to tap into municipal
financing tools is really beneficial. And clearly,
HUD [the U.S. Department of Housing and
Urban Development] is going to be focused
on producing more vouchers, which will help
support affordable housing creation.
ROTHMAN: I'm optimistic that Congress will
pass an infrastructure bill [the bill was passed
November 5], and the categories of projects
open to receive federal funding are ripe for
public/private partnerships, including new
transit and rail investment, water infrastructure,
and the expansion of broadband access.
With the pandemic and the need for remote
schooling, everyone has realized that both
the quality and widespread availability of
broadband to all communities, regardless of
income, is something that the market has not
taken care of sufficiently on its own.
How can these partnerships help
governments and communities address
goals for sustainability, resilience,
affordability, and equity?
ROTHMAN: One example is in San Jose. We
advised the city as it entered into a very
large-scale public/private partnership with
Google called Downtown West. The agreement
between the city and Google includes
nearly a half billion dollars in private contribu
Winter Issue 2022

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Winter Issue 2022
