$4 Million in New Financing Approved
for Brandywine Health & Housing Center
September 15, 2006
The Brandywine Health Foundation, developer of the proposed
Brandywine Health & Housing Center in Coatesville,
today announced that one of the final pieces of financing
needed for the Center has been secured from the Pennsylvania
Housing Finance Agency (PHFA). PHFA’s Board of
Directors met this morning and approved Penn Homes funding
and over $4 million in equity to be provided through
the syndication of federal low income housing tax credits
to the project.
According to Frances Sheehan, President and CEO of the
foundation, “PHFA recognized the value of having
a permanent home for a health center with primary care,
pediatric and prenatal services, and dental care, and the
unique way in which we have co-located those services with
24 units of affordable senior housing. With this key piece
of financing coming on the heels of the Coatesville City
Council’s approval of our land development plan Monday
night, we hope to begin construction by late November so
that our tenants, who are eager to move into the expanded
space, are in by January, 2008.
“Still pending is an application from the Coatesville
Health Development Corporation (CHDC), a new non-profit
entity created to enable the Center’s development,
before the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA).
The USDA application is for a $3 million 40-year low interest
mortgage to finance the first and fourth commercial floors
of the Center. And, we have applied for a guarantee of
an additional $1.5 million in private funds, enabling those
funds to be secured at a below market rate. The application
is competitive but we are optimistic.”
Sheehan also acknowledged the financial support committed
to date from the Commonwealth’s Department of Community
and Economic Development, the County’s Department
of Community Development, and the Federal Home Loan Bank,
which have provided a combined total of $2.6 million for
the project. The Coatesville Redevelopment Authority has
donated two properties to the project so that there would
be sufficient parking.
Since its founding in 2001, the Brandywine Health Foundation
has provided over $3.3 million in grants to non-profits
improving the health of the residents of central and western
Chester County. Its largest grant of $1 million was to
open a Federally Qualified Health Center in the City of
Coatesville - ChesPenn Health Services.
Since ChesPenn’s opening
in temporary headquarters in the 1000 block of East Lincoln
Highway, it has served more than 1,000 patients with primary
care and pediatric services; its prenatal program opened
in August.
The foundation has also assisted in the start-up of Community
Dental in Coatesville, bringing the Child Guidance Resource
Center’s behavioral health services to all of the
Coatesville Area School District’s schools, supporting
the Maternal and Child Health Consortium’s Insurance
Outreach Program, and launching Chester County Cares’ Prescription
Assistance Program. |
