MassDevelopment

Whittier Street Health Center Building New Home Thanks to Funding From Boston Private Bank, Property & Casualty Initiative, and MassDevelopment


January 6, 2011


Contacts:
Melanie Fleming, Boston Private Bank, (978) 302-7612
Jill Amato, Boston Private Bank, (617) 912-4270
Stacey Parks Townsend, Property and Casualty Initiative, LLC, 617-723-7878
Kelsey Abbruzzese, MassDevelopment, 617-330-2086 & 617-448-9077

Boston Private Bank & Trust Company, the Property and Casualty Initiative, and MassDevelopment have closed on a $9 million loan to help the Whittier Street Health Center build a 79,000-square-foot community health center in Roxbury. The new building will rise on the long vacant “Parcel 3″ across from Boston Police headquarters. Health center officials expect the project to create 50 new permanent positions. It is estimated that, based on the construction costs, more than 200 construction jobs will be created during the building construction. Boston Private Bank acted as the lead lender on the financing, with the Property and Casualty Initiative purchasing a $3 million interest and MassDevelopment purchasing a $2 million interest in the loan.

“We are pleased to take the lead in financing this important community project,” said Boston Private Bank CEO and President Mark D. Thompson. “It was a truly collaborative effort with our participating partners, MassDevelopment and Property & Casualty Initiative, that involved complex financing working with the Federal Health and Human Services Department and equity funders, Citibank and Enterprise Community Investment. This financing will result in a new, state-of-the-art facility that will serve an expanded number of patients.”

Stacey Parks Townsend, President of the Property and Casualty Initiative, said, “The goal of PCI is to fund projects that improve the health and welfare of low income residents across the Commonwealth. Facilitating the growth of an excellent community health center is exactly the type of financing that we were created to do.”

“Community health centers like Whittier Street serve as a key resource for thousands in and beyond the borders of Boston,” said MassDevelopment President and CEO Robert L. Culver. “This financing will support high-efficiency, low-cost care for families, the elderly and young adults who need it and depend on Whittier.”

The $9 million loan is part of a comprehensive $37 million financing package to support the construction of the center. The Whittier Street Health Center currently serves more than 14,500 patients, and workers needed to convert closets to examination rooms due to overcrowding in the current 30,000-square-foot building. The new state-of-the-art center will have sufficient room to expand services and add patients.

“We are thrilled to have the support of Boston Private Bank, Property and Casualty Initiative and MassDevelopment for the construction of our new health center,” said Whittier President and CEO Frederica Williams. “It is a testament to Whittier's strong reputation as a leader in community health care and our continuing growth. We look forward to becoming a fixture in the Roxbury community where thousands of families rely on us for their health care.”

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 238 projects in 104 communities across the state generating investment of nearly $1.4 billion in the Massachusetts economy.