Penikese Island School to Buy Administrative Building Thanks to MassDevelopment Loan Guarantee

August 13, 2009

Contact:
Mark Sternman, MassDevelopment, 617-330-2034

MassDevelopment has issued a Mortgage Insurance/Loan Guarantee to support an Eastern Bank Loan to Penikese Island School, which educates troubled older teenage boys. The financing package will enable the school, which has 23 employees, to purchase an administrative building that it had leased for many years at 565 Woods Hole Road in Woods Hole.

“We are pleased to partner with Eastern Bank to help Penikese Island School become a building owner rather than a renter,” said Robert L. Culver, MassDevelopment President and CEO. “In these tough times, anything we can do to help make schools more financially efficient will allow them to focus more fully on their true mission, namely, helping students maximize their potential.”

Founded in 1973, Penikese provides formal academic instruction from special education certified teachers with a two-to-one student teacher ratio. Students work, do chores, and attend school in the one-room schoolhouse six days a week. Penikese work includes cleaning kerosene lanterns (Penikese has no household electricity), feeding animals, repairing equipment, landscaping, and chopping wood. Penikese also has a woodshop where students learn carpentry.

“It has long been a goal of the Penikese Island School to purchase a mainland home to complement its island facilities,” said Ted Doyle, Chairman of the Penikese Island School Board of Directors. “We could not be more appreciative of MassDevelopment and Eastern Bank for helping us to bring that dream to fruition, and to establish a permanent base for our staff, students, and their families in Woods Hole.”

MassDevelopment, the state’s finance and development authority, works with businesses, financial institutions, and local officials to stimulate economic growth across the Commonwealth. During FY2008, MassDevelopment financed or managed 265 projects statewide representing an investment of more than $3 billion in the Massachusetts economy. These projects are supporting the creation of 4,001 housing units and more than 10,384 jobs: 5,424 permanent and 4,960 construction-related.