MassDevelopment Bond Helps Pingree School Build Athletics Center, Expand Theater

October 10, 2012

Contacts:
Kelsey Abbruzzese, MassDevelopment, 617-330-2086 & 617-448-9077 (cell)
kabbruzzese@massdevelopment.com
Judy Klein, The Pingree School, 978-468-4415 ext.233
jklein@pingree.org

MassDevelopment has issued a $14 million bond on behalf of Pingree School, a South Hamilton independent secondary day school that enrolls about 335 students. The school will use bond proceeds to build a 35,000-square-foot athletics center and add 15,000 square feet to its theater. The theater addition will include practice rooms and studios for ceramics, dance, and recording. Pingree expects to begin construction in spring 2013, with the project generating about 50 construction jobs. First Republic Bank purchased the bond.

“Arts and athletics help build well-rounded, educated students,” said MassDevelopment President and CEO Marty Jones. “MassDevelopment is pleased to leverage financing for Pingree and to encourage the school’s promotion of critical thinking and civic engagement.”

Founded in 1960 when Mr. and Mrs. Sumner Pingree gave their home and 50 acres of land as the site for the school, Pingree now serves students from 51 cities and towns. The school opened a new academic center in 2004, which boasts more than 25,000 square feet of teaching and learning space.

“We look forward to offering our students and the community the use of these new facilities,” says Head of School Dr. Timothy M. Johnson. “Pingree has vibrant arts and athletics programs which have grown over the years as the student body has grown from the 35 students who first entered in 1961 to the 335 we now have. We can no longer accommodate the students or the programs in the spaces we have. The new facilities will also allow us to share our campus more with our neighbors in the surrounding communities, and we welcome that opportunity as well. We are most grateful to MassDevelopment for helping to make this all possible.”

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.