MassDevelopment Issues $20.5 Million Bond to Help D`Youville Senior Care Build Transitional Care Unit, Create 51 Jobs

May 25, 2010

Contacts:
Kelsey Abbruzzese, MassDevelopment, 617-330-2086
Angela Callahan, D'Youville Senior Care, 978-569-1000

MassDevelopment has issued $20.5 million in tax-exempt bonds on behalf of D'Youville Senior Care, which plans to use bond proceeds to build a new 33-bed transitional care unit in Lowell. The care unit will include four hospice suites and will meet patients' needs for short-term rehabilitation. The project, supported by bond purchasers Enterprise Bank & Trust Company and Jeanne D'Arc Credit Union of Lowell and Northern Bank & Trust of Woburn, is expected to create at least 51 new jobs.

“Since its founding five decades ago, D'Youville Senior Care has been expanding to meet the needs of elderly patients in Lowell,” said MassDevelopment President and CEO Robert L. Culver. “We're pleased that this low-cost financing can help build the new hospice suites, create new jobs, and help the center reach more seniors in the Merrimack Valley.”

D'Youville Senior Care was established in 1960 as D'Youville Manor, which opened on 75 acres of land in Lowell with 129 beds and soon expanded to 196 beds. In the 1990s, the campus became a state-of-the-art, 208-bed facility and changed its name to D'Youville Senior Care, reflecting the greater scope of care available. D’Youville is sponsored by the Sisters of Charity of Ottawa, but remains an independent, not-for-profit corporation. The new care unit will likely open in the fall of 2011.

“Our new ‘Center for Advanced Therapy' will further broaden the scope of services available on the D'Youville campus,” said Naomi Prendergast, D'Youville Senior Care President and CEO. “Seniors in the Lowell area and health care workers alike will directly benefit from this funding obtained through MassDevelopment.”

MassDevelopment, the state's finance and development authority, works with businesses, financial institutions, and communities to stimulate economic growth across the Commonwealth. During FY2009, MassDevelopment financed or managed 229 projects statewide representing the investment of nearly $1.2 billion in the Massachusetts economy. These projects are supporting the creation of 1,488 new housing units and 8,232 jobs: 3,362 permanent and 4,870 construction-related.