MassDevelopment Bond Helps Natick’s Mary Ann Morse Healthcare Add Rooms, Expand Common Areas for Seniors

December 7, 2010

Contacts:
Kelsey Abbruzzese, MassDevelopment, 617-330-2086 & 617-448-9077
Lisa Kubiak, Mary Ann Morse Nursing & Rehabilitation Center, 508-433-4400
Richard Killigrew, Mary Ann Morse Healthcare Corp., 508-788-6050 ext 164

MassDevelopment has issued a $25.06 million tax-exempt bond on behalf of Mary Ann Morse Healthcare Corp., which operates Heritage at Framingham, a 98-unit assisted living facility in Framingham and Mary Ann Morse Nursing & Rehabilitation Center, a 123-bed nursing and rehabilitation facility in Natick. Bond proceeds will support a new two-story addition and renovations at the nursing and rehabilitation facility, which include expanding the common spaces for all residents, converting three-bedroom units to two-bedroom, upgrades to nursing offices, and renovating a basement area for administrative space. The project will also add 12 rooms – six in the dementia unit and six in the rehabilitation unit – add a larger room for rehabilitative services with state-of-the-art equipment and a deck to increase resident living space. Sovereign Bank purchased the bond.

“Mary Ann Morse’s nursing center upgrades will meet the changing needs of seniors in the MetroWest, creating more space for family visits and privacy during rehabilitation,” said MassDevelopment President and CEO Robert L. Culver. “MassDevelopment takes pride in helping organizations like Mary Ann Morse Healthcare provide options for the Commonwealth’s elders.”

Established in 1992, Mary Ann Morse Nursing & Rehabilitation Center is an award-winning nonprofit facility owned and operated by Mary Ann Morse Healthcare Corp., which also opened Heritage at Framingham, a full-service assisted living community with specialized dementia services in 1995. In the 1990s, the center was dedicated in Mary Ann Morse’s honor, who had bequeathed her estate to the town to establish a hospital.

In 2007, Mass Development issued bonds on behalf of Mary Ann Morse Healthcare Corp. that included $7 million for a project at Heritage at Framingham Assisted Living Facility. The project included an expansion of 12 new assisted living units, creation of a 2,000-square-foot community space to meet the needs of an increasing number of residents, and renovation to existing resident community space and support areas.

“MassDevelopment has helped us expand and renovate both of our facilities to meet the changing needs of our residents and short term patients,” said Mary Ann Morse Health Care Corp. CFO Richard J. Killigrew. “The Heritage expansion had been a great success. When we began our search for funding for our $5 million project at the nursing center, we looked to MassDevelopment again. The access to tax-exempt bonds allows us to minimize our interest expense and utilize more of our funds on resident care. We worked closely with MassDevelopment, Cain Bothers, our financial adviser, and Sovereign Bank, our banker, to create a bond issue that provided financing for our immediate project as well as a long term commitment from Sovereign for the entire bond issue.”

MassDevelopment, the state’s finance and development authority, works with businesses, financial institutions, and communities to stimulate economic growth across the Commonwealth. During FY2010, MassDevelopment financed or managed 241 projects statewide representing the investment of nearly $1.4 billion in the Massachusetts economy.