ORLANDO, Fla. — A meeting to review Virgin Trains USA’s request for $2.7 billion in private activity bonds, needed to fund the passenger operation’s expansion from South Florida to Orlando, adjourned without a resolution on Wednesday — because the number of people waiting to speak on the topic made it impossible for the meeting to finish on time.
The Florida Development Finance Corp. meeting was adjourned after two hours with more than two dozen speakers still waiting to address the board on the request from the company being rebranded from its original name, Brightline, the Florida Business Journal reports.
No date was set for continuation of the meeting, leaving Virgin Trains in limbo in its request for reauthorization of $1.75 billion in previously approved bonds [see “Brightline bond request approved, expansion to Orlando on horizon,” Trains News Wire, Aug. 30, 2018], plus another $950 million. While numerous government officials expressed support for the project, opponents — centered in Indian River County, which continues to fund lawsuits to block the passenger service — questioned Virgin Trains’ financial status. The company’s president, Patrick Goddard, said the current Miami-Fort Lauderdale-West Palm Beach route is doing well and will do better once the system is expanded to Orlando.
Goddard also said the Virgin Trains wants to break ground this spring on its expansion and hopes to be operating to Orlando International Airport within three years. He also said the company is in discussions with the Walt Disney Co. about a station at Walt Disney World, which would be part of an extension from the Orlando airport to Tampa.
I love what Brightline has done so far and have traveled on the trains, my experience was wonderful. I’m looking forward to the future expansion to MCO and beyond, but I really wish they’d leave the branding alone! Brightline is unique and vibrant, it really stands out. Painting all the trains and branding red, in my opinion, will cause it to lose that individuality. I love the paint schemes and the bright yellow and other colors currently used in Brightline’s branding and will be disappointed to see it go.
It is a classic NIMBY tactic to so pack a public meeting with community speakers that the meeting cannot possibly finish in the time allotted. Thus, nothing can be resolved and the meeting will have to be rescheduled and resumed at a later date.
Rinse, repeat.
On the other hand, there is a quite good writeup on Brightline in the New York times, at this URL: https://www.nytimes.com/2019/03/07/travel/virgin-trains-florida-brightline.html .
The above remarks are general in nature and do not form the basis for an attorney/client relationship. They do not constitute legal advice. I am not your attorney. Find your own damn lawyer.
@Britt Reid. It called a PAB or “private activity bond”. Florida has a financing mechanism where large entities can finance projects that have a large public benefit. They are approved by the Florida Development Finance Corp. but syndicated through the capital markets for sale.
Disney is a large user of PAB’s to finance Disney World and surrounding improvements. It exists under the name “Reedy Creek Development District” as all of the lakes on the property are served by the flow of Reedy Creek.
They are like tax free munis but help private interests with large developments get better financing rates. However, to get a PAB approved, you have to have a solid biz plan, you have to have collateral or some form of security that can be used to repay the bond if the biz fails.
The taxpayers are not liable.
Ok a bond means what exactly?
@Steve Foster – Indian River County doesn’t want a stop. They don’t want anything.
@Charles Mortensen – Those NIMBY’s are mostly made up of retired executives, and lots of libertarians who think they shouldn’t have to pay for anything.
As for the likelihood that the Disney Company would allow a stop on their property, while its a great idea, it is very slim. Greater Orlando makes a great deal of money on hotel taxes & rental car taxes. Disney makes a great deal of money on parking and bus fees, many of which are buried in their all-in-one travel excursion fees.
To offer a direct way from the airport to Disney would cause I-Drive hotels to howl in protest because then they would want a stop as well. People are not going to want to shuttle to the Airport, change trains and then shuttle to Disney from I_Drive. They will rent cars.
3 private proposals for high speed transit links from I-Drive to Disney have come and gone because the Disney Company won’t allow it. Through their development arm, the Reedy Creek Development District just spent mega millions on a 6 new parking garages with all new roadways to support the remodel of Downtown Disney to Disney Springs.
They could have just as easily setup a monorail link through the property and out to either I-Drive or the Airport themselves with the money they spent on the garages.
So for the rail minded, Disney does not want any mass transit coming and going from their property unless they own and operate it exclusively.
Virgin Trains will most likely build a station to the east of Disney in Kissimmee.
Is this the county that they are holding out to have a stop put in the county but Virgin doesn’t want to do it since they are afraid many other counties could start demanding one?
There’s some serious Nimbys in that one county.
Just start selling bonds in segments and building it in a new pattern of Disney World to Orlando and continue building to W. Palm Beach via Cocoa to connect to Miami, and then complete Disney to Tampa and you have a winner, in selling bonds and earning money. I think it will be a real winner.