Firm Assists Client with First Successful P3 Concession in the Western United States

INSBGP served as general counsel and Colorado counsel in the concessioning of the Northwest Parkway, a high-speed tollroad which forms nine miles of the circumferential beltway around the Denver metropolitan area.  The concession closed November 21, 2007.

The firm has served as general counsel to the Northwest Parkway Public Highway Authority since its formation and establishment shortly after 2000.  In additional to general counsel services, the firm assisted the Authority with condemnation of property for the project and it authored, negotiated and legally administered the design/build contract by which the highway was delivered on time and on budget.

The Authority's Board of Directors, in late 2006, decided it would be in the best interests of the public and the Authority to solicit privatization proposals and to offer a long-term lease of the Parkway, in order to better satisfy the Authority's half-billion dollar bonded debt obligation for acquisition and construction costs.  As general counsel, INSBG conducted a solicitation of special counsel; the Authority chose Mayer Brown of Chicago and the Denver office of Kutak Rock as special concession and special defeasance counsel, respectively.

INSBGP coordinated the Authority's legal effort in offering and selling a 99-year concession lease of the tollway for $503 million, with payment of an additonal $100 million upon successful extension of the Northwest Parkway, partially completing the full beltway around the Denver metropolitan area.  

The concessionaire is Brisa Internacional (Portugal)- Companhia de Concessões Rodoviárias (Brazil).

An effort involving all elements of the firm's practice, INSBGP's effort on the concession was led by Ed Icenogle and Erin Smith, who have served as the Authority's lead counsel from its inception.  It is the first U.S. public-private partnership involving concessioning of a public facility west of the Mississippi River.

For more information, contact eicenogle@insbcolorado.com or esmith@insbcolorado.com.

Ed Blieszner Elected Official of Design/Build Chapter

INSBGP shareholder Ed Blieszner has been elected to the Board of Directors and president of the Rocky Mountain Chapter of the Design Build Institute of America, an organization promoting the appropriate use of design/build contracting in construction. As an officer of the nonprofit corporation, Mr. Blieszner will also serve on the Chapter's executive council.

Mr. Blieszner, whose undergraduate education was in architecture, has assisted clients with construction contract drafting, interpretation and administration and litigation throughout his legal career in Colorado. His recent involvement in design/build contracting, in which project design and construction are joined into the same legal entity, includes development of a design/build contract for the E-470 Public Highway Authority for Phase 1 of a reconstruction of the I-70/E-470 interchange. The reconstruction will allow E-470 traffic to cross I-70 without encountering traffic signals.

For more information on design/build contracting, more traditional design and construction contracting or the Rocky Mountain Chapter of the Design Build Institute of America, contact eblieszner@insbcolorado.com.

Firm Community Involvement

Icenogle, Norton, Smith, Blieszner, Gilida & Pogue, P.C. supports various community betterment organizations, including:

• Southeast Business Partnership membership. SEBP, a nonprofit corporation, is dedicated to economic development and transportation improvement in the southeast Denver metro area.

• Coalition for Mobility and Air Quality, pro bono counsel. CMAQ is a nonprofit corporation organized to promote transportation and air quality improvement in the State of Colorado.

• E-470 Traffic Safety Foundation, pro bono counsel. The Foundation raises funds and sponsors educational programs intended to save lives in Colorado.

• Adams 12 Five Star Schools Education Foundation, contributor. The firm participates annually as a sponsor of the Foundation's fund-raising golf tournament.

• Sense of Security, sponsor. The firm is an annual sponsor of this charitable organization, which addresses financial hardship experienced by breast cancer patients.