Developing with Public and Private Partners
February 23, 2010
For Ray Garfield, the principal of Garfield Traub Development, the Overton Hotel and Conference Center in Lubbock, TX is a prime example of how well a public-private partnership can work.
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How did the financing of the project work?
It was $67 million total and I think about 66 percent of that was private funds and 34 percent public funds. Each of these developments is a unique structure, every one a little different. In Lubbock we got a little more than a 50-percent loan, a $35-million first mortgage and what makes this unique is it’s right across from Texas Tech University and they have a great restaurant and hotel majors program (Restaurant/Hotel & Institutional Management). We actually, in collaboration with the department at Texas Tech, designed a classroom in the city’s conference facility, with separate locker rooms for the students who use (the complex) as a laboratory for their studies.