Baystate Health Finances Facilities Improvements in Western Massachusetts with Support From $77 Million in Tax-Exempt Bonds from MassDevelopment
January 21, 2015
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contacts:
Mark Sternman, MassDevelopment, 617-330-2034 & 617-780-6186 (cell)
msternman@massdevelopment.com
Ben Craft, Baystate Health, 413-794-1689 & 413-244-8699
benjamin.craft@baystatehealth.org
In two separate transactions, MassDevelopment has issued $77.115 million in tax-exempt bonds to Baystate Medical Center and Baystate Franklin Medical Center—affiliates of not-for-profit health care provider Baystate Health in Springfield. Combined, the projects are expected to support 395 construction jobs.
“MassDevelopment is proud to support these improvements of Baystate Health’s patient-care facilities in two locations in western Massachusetts,” said MassDevelopment President and CEO Marty Jones. “Now, residents of the region will receive care in more modern and patient-centered environments at Baystate Medical Center and Baystate Franklin Medical Center.”
“We recognize our responsibility to be responsible stewards of our resources, and ensure we are getting the greatest-possible impact out of every dollar we spend,” said Dennis Chalke, senior vice president of Finance, chief financial officer and treasurer and senior vice president of Community Hospitals for Baystate Health. “Baystate Health will use the proceeds of these successful bond transactions as a cost-effective means of funding its needed facility improvement projects at Baystate Medical Center and Baystate Franklin Medical Center, to help us deliver the very best, highest-value and most accessible care possible to our patients.”
Baystate Medical Center (BMC) is now in phase 3 of its facilities improvements, building out 90,000 square feet of space. The project will use $55.115 million in MassDevelopment bonds to build a modern inpatient pharmacy and 96 improved inpatient rooms. Bond proceeds will finance the building, furnishing, and equipping costs related to the expansion, as well as provide BMC with funding for medical technologies and other routine capital expenditures.
Baystate Medical Center, the only Level 1 trauma center in western Massachusetts, serves as an academic, research, and training facility for the Tufts University School of Medicine. BMC treats the most critical and urgent cases in the region, and is home to one of the busiest emergency rooms in New England.
Baystate Franklin Medical Center (BFMC) is a 90-bed community hospital located in Greenfield. As Franklin County’s only hospital it provides a wide range of medical and surgical inpatient and outpatient services including cardiovascular services, general surgery, women’s services, cancer treatment, sports medicine including orthopedic surgery, behavioral-health services and physical, occupational and speech therapy. BFMC will use $22 million in bond proceeds and another $5 million to be raised from a community-based capital campaign to finance a 55,000 square foot expansion that will replace 45-year-old operating rooms with state-of-the-art surgical space including new operating, preoperative care, and recovery rooms as well as a contemporary sterile-processing department. In addition, bond proceeds will finance the renovation of 13,000 square feet of existing hospital space.
“We’re making an investment in the long-term health of our local Franklin County community, and we're grateful to MassDevelopment—as well as our donors—for their support in making these new facilities a reality,” said Steven F. Bradley, president of Baystate Franklin Medical Center.
MassDevelopment, the state’s finance and development agency, works with businesses, nonprofits, financial institutions, and communities to stimulate economic growth across the Commonwealth. During FY2014, MassDevelopment financed or managed 314 projects generating investment of more than $2.9 billion in the Massachusetts economy. These projects are projected to create more than 6,300 jobs and build or rehabilitate more than 1,600 residential units.
