MassDevelopment Bond Helps Conservatory Lab Move to Dorchester
September 8, 2016
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contacts:
Meggie Quackenbush, MassDevelopment, 617-330-2011
mquackenbush@massdevelopment.com
Andrew Ravens, Eastern Bank, 781-598-8528
a.ravens@easternbank.com
Gary F. Gut, Conservatory Lab Charter School, 617-922-1100
gfgut@aol.com
MassDevelopment has issued a $3.3 million tax-exempt bond to the Conservatory Lab Charter School Foundation, Inc., an affiliate of Conservatory Lab Charter School, which focuses on music and academics at its locations in Boston’s Brighton and Dorchester neighborhoods. The school is using bond proceeds to help finance its purchase of an 11,800-square-foot building in Dorchester that was formerly home to Dorchester Collegiate Academy Charter School. Conservatory Lab Charter School relocated its lower school from Brighton to 133 Hancock Street in Dorchester in August 2016. It will also use bond proceeds to buy furniture and equipment for its new building. Eastern Bank purchased the bond. MassDevelopment enhanced this financing with a charter school guarantee.
“Charter schools play an important role in educating students throughout the Commonwealth, and up-to-date facilities ensure these institutions have the needed resources to best serve their communities,” said MassDevelopment President and CEO Marty Jones. “We are pleased to work with Conservatory Lab Charter School to help it move to its Dorchester home.”
“We have been partners with Conservatory Lab Charter School since its inception and are proud to continue our partnership with their recent expansion,” said Eastern Bank Senior Vice President, Community Development Pam Feingold.
Chartered in 1999, Conservatory Lab Charter School was founded by New England Conservatory Trustee Katherine Pell and Professor Larry Scripp. Its mission is to change urban education through music. Over 16 years, the School has evolved into a pioneering Boston public charter school that fuses music and academics. Its disciplined music study program and inquiry approach propels students to develop indispensable qualities that drive lifelong success: persistence, discovery, hard work, and the joy of learning.
“We are excited about the expanded program sharing and performance opportunities created by locating both our upper and lower school campuses in Dorchester,” said Gary Gut, Board Chair of Conservatory Lab Charter School. “Our El Sistema orchestral and expeditionary learning curricula emphasize older students mentoring younger students, and now we can do more of that important work.”
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.
