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Biography

David’s practice focuses on helping clients find and implement public finance, project finance, and structured finance solutions. His experience includes acting as bond counsel for national, state and local issuers; and representation of borrowers, underwriters, placement agents, and bond purchasers, in traditional infrastructure finance, P3 and structured finance, economic development finance, health care finance, and energy and PACE (property assessed clean energy) finance transactions. He also represents and advises issuers and bankers in transactions using monetizations, securitizations and derivatives to enhance existing revenue streams. His P3 experience includes representing both public asset owners and private lessee concessionaires in both public-private DBFOM partnerships and P3 structures funded with tax-exempt bonds.

He has served as counsel on advanced energy facilities, shopping centers, office buildings, stadiums, arenas, hotel facilities, housing, private activity, hospital, 501(c)(3), education and quasi-governmental facilities. He has also helped structure finance and corporate finance transactions, including CMBS, credit tenant leases, bond securitizations, secondary market transactions and governmental synthetic leases.

He recently led the team of Public Finance Practice Group attorneys that acted as special counsel to UAkronPark Inc., the Concessionaire in an innovative 35-year Public Private Partnership (P3) transaction funded with debt, monetizing the University of Akron’s parking system. In that transaction, the Development Finance Authority of Summit County issued $86,265,000 in principal amount of tax-exempt bonds underwritten by KeyBanc Capital Markets, generating over $85 million of gross proceeds, and providing for a payment to the University in excess of $55 million, plus on-going annual excess fee revenue each year. Frost Brown Todd also acted as underwriter’s counsel to KeyBanc and assisted bond counsel in drafting documents to conform to the KeyBanc deal structure.  UAkronPark provided a complete mobility concession covering all parking system assets and mobility options at the University’s main campus. UAkronPark in turn hired Diogenes Capital as its Asset Manager and SP+ Corporation as its Operator. This transaction was modeled on – but contained improvements in bondholder security from – the University of Toledo’s parking system P3 financing, also structured by KeyBanc and with Diogenes and SP+ in the same roles, that closed in 2021. Frost Brown Todd was Bond Counsel as well as special counsel to the concessionaire. See Frost Brown Todd Represents Toledo-Lucas County Port Authority in University of Toledo P3 Parking Concession – Frost Brown Todd | Full-Service Law Firm

David works with the team of attorneys at Frost Brown Todd representing Franklin County, Ohio, as bond counsel, including with respect to its 2018 $250,000,000 double AAA/Aaa tax-exempt sales tax bond issue – the first municipal sales tax issue in the US rated that high. In addition, he helped lead the team of attorneys representing the County as one of the primary governmental entities (i) funding the new 500-room expansion to the Hilton Headquarters Hotel owned by the Franklin County Convention Facilities Authority and (ii) funding the new $325 million stadium for the Columbus Crew of the MLS owned by the Confluence Community Authority. He is currently working as part of the firm’s team of attorneys representing the State of Ohio’s Department of Transportation on the $2.8 billion multi-state project to rebuild and replace the I-71/I-75 Brent Spence Bridge in Cincinnati, Ohio.

David's Relevant Experience

Significant Financings

David has acted as bond, structuring or underwriter’s counsel for the:

First AAA (S&P) and Aaa (Moody’s) rated Sales Tax Revenue Bond in the country; issued by Franklin County, Ohio.

First TIF (tax increment finance) infrastructure bond issue backed by special assessments in Ohio.

First swaption for a governmental unit in Ohio.

First multi-jurisdictional PACE advanced energy special improvement district in Ohio.

First securitization of tax-exempt bonds in Ohio.

First securitization of defaulted tax-exempt housing bonds in the nation.

First governmental synthetic lease financing in Ohio.

First taxable and tax-exempt infrastructure bonds collateralized by the U.S. EB-5 Immigrant Investor program in Ohio.

First NAIC-1 rated taxable bond backed by a credit tenant lease in Ohio.

Counsel to the successful bidder for the first public private partnership long-term lease and concession of the parking system assets for The Ohio State University; and

Bond Counsel to the Western Reserve Port Authority on its stand alone PACE (Property Assessed Clean Energy) bond financing for a retail center’s energy efficiency upgrade.

Bond Counsel to the Western Reserve and Lorain County Port Authorities on the two largest port capital lease financings in Ohio; for the GM/LG Ultium Battery Plant in Warren, Ohio and the new Ford EV plant in Avon Lake, Ohio respectively.

Representative Matters

FBT Assists Hospital with Modern Master Indenture Bond Financing

Two members of our Public Finance Practice Group in Columbus, Ohio, Emmett Kelly and David Rogers, acted as Bond Counsel for an issuance of $63,045,000 City of Middleburg Heights, Ohio Hospital Facilities Revenue and Refunding Bonds, Series 2011, and implemented a new modern master indenture.

David led the firm’s team of attorneys representing Queensland Investment Corporation and CampusParc LLC as the lessee/concessionaire from The Ohio State University of all parking facilities in its landmark public university P3 transaction.

Other Info About David

Education

Law School

Harvard Law School, J.D.

Undergraduate School

The Ohio State University, B.S., summa cum laude

Bar Memberships

David is licensed to practice in the following state(s):

Ohio

Recognition

Local & National Recognition

The Best Lawyers in America®, Public Finance Law, 2005-2025; Real Estate Law, 2024-2025; Project Finance Law, 2025

AV PreeminentMartindale-Hubbell®

Professional Affiliations

Professional Affiliations & Memberships

American College of Bond Counsel, Member

Ohio State Bar Association

National Association of Bond Lawyers, Member

Council of Development Finance Agencies (CDFA)

CDFA Ohio Financing Roundtable

 

Firm Committees

David serves or has served in the following leadership role(s) at Frost Brown Todd:

Public and Project Finance Practice Group, former Chair

Presentations

David was invited to speak at the following events:

Speaker on “Asset Monetization of Non-core Infrastructure Assets using P3s,” highlighting the University of Toledo parking and mobility concession P3 – 2022 P3C Higher Education Summit in Washington, DC

Moderator of panel on “Structuring Challenging Bond Deals” focusing on the complex process of structuring deals, how to engage investors, the latest problem-solving techniques, and recent case studies – CDFA 2022 National Finance Summit in Denver, CO, November 3, 2022

“Smart Cities P3 Presentation” for the CDFA / BNY Mellon Development Finance Webcast Series – CDFA November 16, 2021

Created and acted as Chair of the “CDFA – Frost Brown Todd Infrastructure Finance Series,” including 5 videos featuring experts discussing: Unlocking Capital for Infrastructure Projects, Transportation Finance Strategies, Water Finance 101, Public-Private Partnership (P3) Financing for Energy and Financing Environmental Infrastructure – part of CDFA TV and sponsored by FBT Project Finance Advisors November 2020

“Intro Public Private Partnership (P3) Course” – CDFA August 6, 2020

“Financial Tools Available to Municipalities to Fund Infrastructure Improvements” – Ohio Municipal League Webinar October 17, 2019

“Sustainable Infrastructure Workshop – Case Studies/New Opportunities” – CDFA Federal Policy Conference April 16, 2019

“CDFA & Connecticut Green Bank P3 Clean Energy Bond Project” – Webinar February, 2019

Acted as part of a team sponsored by the US EPA and CDFA (Council of Development Finance Agencies) that examined a brownfields site in Puerto Rico and available governmental and private sector programs and helped author a report entitled the “Puerto Rico Corridor 127 Roadmap to Redevelopment” presented to the territory and its redevelopment foundation, January 1, 2018.

“Traditional and Alternative Financing Structures: Allocation of Risk and Return on Investment” – Strafford Publications Webinar, March 2018.

“Unique Models and Other Ways to Think About P3” – CDFA Webinar, June 2018.

“Public–Private Partnerships in Ohio for Infrastructure, Transportation, Energy and Development Projects” – CDFA Ohio Roundtable, September 2018.

Major Publications

David is an author or contributor to the following publications:

Co-author, “C-PACE Laws Offer Boost for Sustainable Development,” Law360, July 11, 2023

Co-author, “Covid-19 Rebirth Using Proven Tools,” White Paper, Q2 2020

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