Eagle Hill School to Build Athletic Center, Dorms with $24 Million MassDevelopment Bond

May 24, 2012

Contacts:
Kelsey Abbruzzese, MassDevelopment, 617-330-2086 & 617-448-9077
Dr. P. J. McDonald, Eagle Hill, 413-477-6000

MassDevelopment has issued $24 million in tax-exempt bonds on behalf of Eagle Hill Foundation, which operates as Eagle Hill School in Hardwick. The college-preparatory boarding school that educates students with learning disabilities will use bond proceeds to build a 63,000-square-foot sports and fitness center and a state-of-the-art dormitory. Bond proceeds will also finance another dormitory’s addition and a wastewater treatment plant and refinance existing debt. Eagle Hill expects to create 11 jobs as a result of this project. Rollstone Bank & Trust purchased the bond.

“Just as MassDevelopment employs various types of financing to help the Commonwealth’s businesses and nonprofits, Eagle Hill uses different strategies to provide students with language-based learning disabilities the tools to succeed,” said MassDevelopment President and CEO Marty Jones. “This low-cost financing will help the School open its doors to even more children in need of skills development.”

Eagle Hill serves about 205 students in eighth through twelfth grade. The school focuses on learning disabilities that include dyslexia, attention deficit disorder, and nonverbal learning disability. Eagle Hill also offers a five-week academic and recreational summer camp for students age 10-18 who have been diagnosed with learning disabilities.

“With six applicants for every boarding space available, we are thrilled to be able to modestly increase enrollment so that more students with learning differences from around the globe can experience the labor and love of learning in high school and, ultimately, find success in college and beyond,” said Dr. P.J. McDonald, Headmaster of Eagle Hill School. “Moreover, the Sports and Fitness Center will allow every EHS student to experience the many benefits of regular and rigorous exercise as we incorporate a fitness-for-life model into our curriculum. We are also grateful to Rollstone Bank, and Marty Connors and Mike Olson in particular, as they recognized from the beginning that they were investing in far more than a couple of spectacular buildings. Rather, they understood and appreciated that were investing in the value and importance of an Eagle Hill School education and the future leaders of this country.”

MassDevelopment, the state’s finance and development agency, works with businesses, nonprofits, financial institutions, and communities to stimulate economic growth across the Commonwealth. During FY2011, MassDevelopment financed or managed more than 300 projects generating investment of $3.8 billion in the Massachusetts economy. These projects are projected to create more than 10,000 jobs (2,547 permanent and 8,129 construction), and build or rehabilitate more than 1,000 residential units.