Boston Preparatory Charter Public School Uses MassDevelopment Bond to Add Building

December 18, 2017

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

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

Anders Peterson, Boston Preparatory Charter Public School, 617-333-6688 ext. 454
apeterson@bostonprep.org

MassDevelopment has issued a $12 million tax-exempt bond for Boston Preparatory Charter Public School (Boston Prep) in Boston’s Hyde Park neighborhood. The school is using proceeds to build, furnish, and equip a 32,000-square-foot, three-story wing to expand its recently-completed middle and high school, and to renovate and reconfigure the main entrance of its existing building. The expansion will allow the school to accommodate 300 additional students, an increase that the Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education authorized in 2017. Citizens Bank, N.A. purchased the bond.

“Boston Prep provides its students with exceptional learning opportunities through rigorous coursework and a welcoming academic community,” said MassDevelopment President and CEO Lauren Liss. “MassDevelopment is pleased this tax-exempt bond will allow the school to grow, helping future generations of students expand their intellectual horizons.”

Opened in 2004, Boston Prep is a public charter school serving grades six through twelve. The school accepts Boston students through a public lottery, and its mission is to prepare students to succeed in four-year colleges while embodying its core values of courage, integrity, perseverance, and respect. Boston Prep’s current enrollment is 463 students, the majority of which come from Dorchester, Mattapan, Roxbury, and Hyde Park. In 2015, MassDevelopment financed Boston Prep’s 49,000-square-foot school building with a $17.5 million tax-exempt bond.

“We are grateful to all of the many generous funders who have made the expansion of Boston Prep possible,” said Boston Prep Executive Director Sharon Liszanckie. “With this MassDevelopment tax-exempt bond, along with many generous donations, we are able to offer many more of Boston’s youth access to high-quality educational opportunities.”

MassDevelopment, the state’s finance and development agency, works with businesses, nonprofits, financial institutions, and communities to stimulate economic growth across the Commonwealth. During FY2017, MassDevelopment financed or managed 377 projects generating investment of more than $4.3 billion in the Massachusetts economy. These projects are projected to create about 9,488 jobs and build or rehabilitate 1,863 residential units.