NEW YORK (Standard&Poor's) March 5, 2010--Standard&Poor's Ratings Services has raised its underlying rating (SPUR) on the District of Columbia's (D.C.) series 2002 tax increment bonds (Mandarin Oriental Hotel project and Gallery Place project) to 'A' from 'A-' based on the Downtown Tax Increment Financing (TIF) Area's very strong property tax base growth over the past three years, which has boosted coverage levels and reduced the project area's volatility ratio. The rating also reflects: A primarily commercial 2,500-acre project area centrally located in the District of Columbia's downtown area; Low property taxpayer concentration, with the 10 largest taxpayers representing only 7% of fiscal 2009 incremental assessed value (AV); Strong coverage of 52.4x on maximum annual debt service
