MassDevelopment

Holyoke Medical Center Buys New Equipment With MassDevelopment Lease


March 28, 2017


FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Contacts:
​Meggie Quackenbush, MassDevelopment, 617-330-2011 & 857-208-2777 (cell)
mquackenbush@massdevelopment.com

Rebecca MacGregor, Holyoke Medical Center, 413-534-2532
macgregor_rebecca@holyokehealth.com

MassDevelopment has issued a $3.2 million tax-exempt lease on behalf of Holyoke Medical Center Inc., a community hospital in Holyoke. The Center is using lease proceeds to buy radiography and imaging equipment, including 3D mammography, IV pumps, information technology equipment, furnishings, and fixtures for its hospital at 575 Beech Street in Holyoke. Citizens Funding Corporation purchased the lease.

“MassDevelopment is pleased to lend its support again to this important community medical center in a Gateway City,” said MassDevelopment President and CEO Marty Jones. “This financing will allow the hospital to meet its patients’ needs more effectively with key equipment upgrades, helping Holyoke Medical Center remain a hub of health and wellness in the Pioneer Valley.”

In 2015, MassDevelopment provided a $10 million New Markets Tax Credit allocation and $15 million tax-exempt bond to Holyoke Medical Center for a two-story addition that houses an emergency department, a weight and health-management clinic, and specialty outpatient services. In 2011, the Agency also issued a $3 million tax-exempt lease that the Center used to upgrade its picture archiving and communication system, and to buy operation room equipment and instruments, HVAC equipment, an electronic health record system, and other IT equipment.

HMC, which first opened its doors in 1893 as Holyoke City Hospital, provides inpatient medical, surgical, critical care, cardiac, obstetrical, psychiatric, oncology, outpatient diagnostic, and therapeutic services. The Center covers more than 180,000 residents in western Massachusetts, mostly from Holyoke, Chicopee, South Hadley, Granby, West Springfield, Westfield, and Easthampton. The 198-bed facility has 1,200 employees and admits more than 7,500 patients, while the emergency department has an annual volume of more than 45,000 visits.

“With the assistance of this tax-exempt lease, Holyoke Medical Center is able to continue to offer the latest in medical technology and an expanded range of services to offer the Pioneer Valley,” said Spiros Hatiras, President and CEO of Holyoke Medical Center and Valley Health Systems Inc.

MassDevelopment’s tax-exempt leases act as installment loans. An investor lends funds to the borrower to purchase equipment and complete any related renovations, and the borrower agrees to make periodic fixed-rate payments. Generally, the borrower leases the equipment for a length of time approximating the useful economic life of the equipment. At the end of the lease term, the borrower typically pays a nominal amount and assumes ownership of the equipment.

MassDevelopment, the state’s finance and development agency, works with businesses, nonprofits, financial institutions, and communities to stimulate economic growth across the Commonwealth. During FY2016, MassDevelopment financed or managed 352 projects generating investment of more than $4 billion in the Massachusetts economy. These projects are projected to create about 8,200 jobs and build or rehabilitate about 4,200 residential units.