MassDevelopment

Bay Path College Building Center for Graduate Studies With MassDevelopment Bonds


February 4, 2014


FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Contacts:
Kelsey Abbruzzese, MassDevelopment, 617-330-2086 & 617-448-9077 (cell)
kabbruzzese@massdevelopment.com
Michael Giampietro, Bay Path College, 413-565-1254
mgiampietro@baypath.edu

MassDevelopment has issued $19.5 million in tax-exempt bonds on behalf of Bay Path College, a Longmeadow school that serves more than 2,300 students in its career-focused curriculum. Bay Path College will use bond proceeds to build the 56,000-square-foot, two- story Center for Graduate Studies in Health Sciences on 11 acres of land in East Longmeadow. A portion of the bond proceeds will refund a previous MassDevelopment bond, which funded projects at the main campus in Longmeadow. Peoples Bank, United Bank, and NUVO Bank & Trust Company purchased the bonds.

The health sciences building will be a state-of–the-art academic facility for graduate classes in the occupational therapy and the physician assistant programs. This building is the first structure Bay Path College has erected in decades as well as the largest building project in the College’s history.

“Bay Path College’s Health Sciences program provides a unique learning experience that enables students to become confident professionals,” said MassDevelopment President and CEO Marty Jones. “We are pleased to leverage this low-cost financing on behalf of Bay Path College, furthering its expansion in western Massachusetts and the level of education the school can provide.”

Bay Path College used the previous bond, which these bonds will refund, to renovate an academic building and construct additional parking.

“Steady growth in the number of graduate school programs at our Longmeadow campus necessitated that we expand our physical plant,” said Bay Path College Vice President for Finance & Administrative Services Michael Giampietro. “Because our campus is landlocked and fully built out, we made the decision to purchase 11 acres in East Longmeadow, about three miles from our main campus, and to establish our graduate center for health sciences there. While many of our graduate school programs are offered fully online, those in the health sciences field, including physician assistant studies and occupational therapy, are offered largely on-ground. Our new building will offer state-of-the-art teaching spaces, real-world learning laboratories, and many areas for our graduate students to do project-based work. This project will enable the college to increase the number of students it serves while meeting the critical need to supply health care professionals for our regional workforce.”

Bay Path College was founded in 1897 in Springfield. Today, the college educates over 2,300 students from around the world at its main campus in Longmeadow and satellite campuses in Sturbridge and Burlington. In addition to a wide variety of innovative undergraduate programs for women, Bay Path offers Accelerated Degree Programs for women and graduate programs for men and women. Classroom learning is combined with real-life experience at Bay Path to provide a meaningful education to its students.

MassDevelopment, the state’s finance and development agency, works with businesses, nonprofits, financial institutions, and communities to stimulate economic growth across the Commonwealth. During FY2013, MassDevelopment financed or managed 350 projects generating investment of more than $2.4 billion in the Massachusetts economy. These projects are projected to create more than 7,000 jobs and build or rehabilitate 800 residential units.