by John Smolen and Nancy Smith, Nossaman LLP

Financing for the Maryland Purple Line closed on Friday, June 17 —marking an important milestone for the Maryland Transit Administration’s (and Maryland Department of Transportation’s) plan to deliver a transit solution to ease travel between the Maryland suburbs and Washington, D.C.

Once the project reached commercial close in early April, the winning concessionaire, Purple Line Transit Partners LLC (PLTP), worked closely with the MTA/MDOT team to finalize the financing structure and various other issues. This culminated in a week of financial closings which allowed the precedent-setting approximately 36-year public-private partnership (P3) to proceed.