MassDevelopment

$11.5 Million MassDevelopment Financing Package Supports New Ambulatory Care Facility at Lynn Community Health


July 13, 2010


Contacts:
Kelsey Abbruzzese, MassDevelopment, 617-330-2086
Cynthia Steger-Wilson, Lynn Community Health, 781-596-2502 x717

MassDevelopment has provided an $11.5 million New Markets Tax Credit financing package for Lynn Community Health, Inc., the medical home for more than 33,000 patients on the North Shore. The health center broke ground in June on a 29,300-square-foot comprehensive ambulatory care facility, an addition to its current center, and the components of this financing support the first phase of this expansion. These components include a $6.5 million tax-exempt bond issued on Lynn Health's behalf and purchased by Cambridge Savings Bank, New Markets Tax Credit equity, a $3 million grant from Partners HealthCare, and brownfields site assessment and predevelopment funds. The project is expected to create more than 100 construction and permanent health care jobs.

“With an average of 400 new patients each month for the last two years, Lynn Community Health needed this project to meet the rising demand for high-efficiency, low-cost care,” said MassDevelopment President and CEO Robert L. Culver. “Expanding in Lynn meets not just health needs, but employment needs. This financing puts shovels in the ground and will provide medical care to those who need it most.”

The new facility will be a two-story, 29,300-square-foot building with an atrium that connects it to the current center. The addition will contain an expanded walk-in clinic that includes 10 exam rooms and offices for nurses and providers; centralized registration and waiting area, and shell space on the second floor and in the basement for future development.

”MassDevelopment has been an extraordinary partner as we put together the financing for our expansion project,” said Lori Abrams Berry, Executive Director of the Lynn Community Health Center. “There is such a demand for primary care in downtown Lynn, and this expansion will help us meet it by providing space to expand our services and hire more primary care providers. We anticipate that the new addition will allow us to provide more than 15,000 more annual visits to over 4,000 new patients, with additional space to expand even more in the future.”

Founded in 1971, Lynn Community Health started as a small storefront mental health clinic and is now a federally qualified community health center. The organization has a history of providing accessible and comprehensive health care that is available to everyone in the Greater Lynn community, regardless of ability to pay. Lynn Health also provides a strong commitment to medically underserved, poor, minority and immigrant populations, children and families, the elderly and others at high risk for health problems.

MassDevelopment, the state's finance and development authority, works with businesses, financial institutions, and communities to stimulate economic growth across the Commonwealth. During FY2009, MassDevelopment financed or managed 229 projects statewide representing the investment of nearly $1.2 billion in the Massachusetts economy. These projects are supporting the creation of 1,488 new housing units and 8,232 jobs: 3,362 permanent and 4,870 construction-related.