The City of Fort Lauderdale’s Prospect Lake Clean Water Center has been named the Best P3 Utility Project of the Year Award by P3 Bulletin. This prestigious award exemplifies how this project will lead to the delivery of resilient and innovative critical infrastructure through collaboration between public and private industry partners. 

Ridgewood Infrastructure and IDE Technologies’ unsolicited proposal to the City of Fort Lauderdale for the development of the Prospect Lake Clean Water Center was selected to complete the $666 million project to build, operate and maintain a state-of-the-art, membrane-based water treatment facility that will replace the City’s aging Fiveash Regional Water Treatment Plant. Law firm White & Case drafted and negotiated the comprehensive agreement with the City, including the development of an entirely new template for implementing a P3 transaction in the water treatment sector in the US and adopting a first-its-kind approach to sourcing and applying debt financing for a US P3 project. The City placed a strong emphasis on managing and minimizing risks in the project's structure. The City took responsibility for supplying the necessary electricity and chemicals, while the concessionaire IDE-Ridgewood project team agreed to limit their annual consumption of these resources to a maximum amount. If the amount is exceeded, the project team is required to reimburse the City for the corresponding excess consumption costs. 

Currently in the design phase, this is likely the first of many awards to come for this project. Mayor Trantalis recently signed documents to close a $543 million bond to fund the new facility, setting a record for the largest bond ever issued by the City of Fort Lauderdale. Once completed, the new plant will be capable of producing 50 million gallons of treated water per day using a combination of nanofiltration membrane and ion exchange technologies to provide clear, safe, potable water. Learn more about the project at ftlcity.info/prospectlakeproject and save the date: a groundbreaking ceremony is being planned for January 2024 and we hope you can join us to celebrate the start of construction. 

P3 Bulletin and Partnerships Bulletin provide intelligence to leaders in the public and private sectors that form partnerships to design, build, finance, operate and maintain public infrastructure. Through their editorial coverage, database and market-leading events, they provide platforms to learn about the projects, partners and policies that will shape the transport, social and utility infrastructure sectors. Learn more at p3awards.com/winners-2023.