PRESS RELEASE
7/28/08
CONTACT: Charity Sack, (703) 647-2337
New Markets Tax Credits and Private Donations Finance First Green House® Homes In Massachusetts
$31.4 Million Assembled to Finance New Initiative at The Leonard Florence Center for Living in Chelsea
WASHINGTON, D.C. (July 28, 2008) — The first Green House® Homes to be built in Massachusetts were made possible through a highly unique and innovative combination of public-private financing and fundraising. NCB Capital Impact and the Massachusetts Housing Investment Corporation deployed $29 million in New Markets Tax Credit (NMTC) allocations to assist the Chelsea Jewish Nursing Home in the development of a $31.4 million innovative skilled nursing development. The Chelsea Jewish Nursing Home Foundation raised over $13 million in charitable donations to facilitate the transaction.
The Leonard Florence Center for Living in Chelsea, Massachusetts received the funds to construct 10 Green House® Homes of 10 units each in a distinctive, 70,600 square-foot, five-story high-rise designed to maintain the feel of individual homes while occupying the limited space available in a densely populated urban area. Further, the facility will offer views of downtown Boston, the new Highway 1 bridge, Logan Airport, and the harbor beyond.
40 of the 100 beds will be dedicated to underserved groups including people with multiple sclerosis or ALS/Lou Gehrig’s disease, and members of the gay & lesbian community. Another 30 beds will be dedicated to short-term Medicare residents receiving rehabilitation after a hospital stay. It is expected that the new facility will be approximately 50% Medicaid, 30% Medicare and 20% private pay.
With grant funding from The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF), NCB Capital Impact is pursuing the rapid replication of the Green House® model on a national level, offering technical assistance and financing to organizations interested in developing this new skilled nursing approach with social-friendly, homelike facilities for 10 to 12 residents.
“The Leonard Florence Center and NCB Capital Impact’s Green House® Initiative will create an important, new compassionate model for how we deal with our frailest elders and those with serious life-changing illnesses,” stated Barry Berman from Chelsea Jewish Nursing Home. “This project would absolutely not be possible without the New Markets Tax Credits and equity provided by NCB Capital Impact and the Massachusetts Housing Investment Corporation of Boston, MA, and we are so grateful to them for sharing our dreams and our plans.”
“It has been a significant, albeit complicated undertaking,” said Terry Simonette, President and CEO of NCB Capital Impact. “Thanks to the New Markets Tax Credit subsidy and the sponsor's enthusiastic and highly successful fundraising, the project will end up with more than $20 million in equity, greatly helping with affordability. We hope this is the first of many where we're able to play a critical financing role,” Simonette added.
To date, NCB Capital Impact has been awarded $229 Million in New Markets Tax Credits and issued investments totaling $168 Million to 20 community-based organizations for new and improved health care and education facilities serving 350,000 patients and 4,000 students, 92% of which are located in highly distressed communities.
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About NCB Capital Impact
NCB Capital Impact, the non-profit affiliate of NCB, provides financial services and technical assistance to create affordable shared equity homeownership, long-term care and supports, and facilities for healthcare centers and charter schools. NCB Capital Impact received grant funding from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation to replicated GREEN HOUSE® Homes in every state over a five-year period. To learn more about NCB Capital Impact, its programs and initiatives in advancing education, affordable homeownership, health care and long-term care for low- to moderate-income individuals, visit www.ncbcapitalimpact.org.
About The Leonard Florence Center for Living
The Leonard Florence Center for Living (LFCL) is America's first urban Green House®, providing skilled nursing care for 100 residents in an environment that bears little resemblance to a nursing home as we know it today. Residents will live in a ten-bedroom home with contemporaries, each with their own room and bath. The in-home kitchen will serve upon request. A dedicated staff will deliver loving care in an expression of the mission of Leonard Florence - Living Life to the Fullest. To learn more, contact Barry Berman, Executive Director of Chelsea Jewish Nursing Home: 617.884.6766; barry0630@aol.com, or visit: www.leonardflorencecenter.org
About Massachusetts Housing Investment Corporation (MHIC)
MHIC is a specialized private lender and investor providing flexible and innovative financing for affordable housing and community development. MHIC provides financing not otherwise available and extends the impact of that financing to ensure the broadest possible benefit. For more information, visit: www.mhic.com.
About New Markets Tax Credits
The NMTC Program, established by Congress in December 2000, permits individual and corporate taxpayers to receive a credit against federal income taxes for making qualified equity investments in investment vehicles known as Community Development Entities (CDEs). The credit provided to the investor totals 39 percent of the cost of the investment and is claimed over a seven-year period. Substantially all of the taxpayer’s investment must in turn be used by the CDE to make qualified investments in low-income communities. The 61 organizations were selected through a competitive application and rigorous review process.