UMass Dartmouth Builds 1,210-Bed Residence Hall With MassDevelopment Bond
December 18, 2018
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contacts:
Kelsey Schiller, MassDevelopment, 617-330-2011 & 617-694-9695 (cell)
kschiller@massdevelopment.com
Patricia Filippone, UMass Building Authority
PFilippone@umassp.edu
MassDevelopment has issued a $132,185,000 tax-exempt bond on behalf of Provident Commonwealth Education Resources II Inc. (PCER), a public-private partnership that will use bond proceeds to build, furnish, and equip a five-story, 306,900-square-foot residence hall at the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth. The new facility, which will house approximately 1,210 mostly first-year students, will include a dining hall and space for student activities and academic support. The residence hall will replace an existing dormitory, built in the 1970s, which the University will demolish once the new facility is opened.
“MassDevelopment is proud to support the construction of a new residence hall at the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth,” said MassDevelopment President and CEO Lauren Liss. “This state-of-the-art dormitory will breathe new life into the university’s campus and ensure the school has an adequate supply of housing to support its growing student body.”
PCER is a nonprofit corporation created by the Georgia nonprofit Provident Resources Group Inc., the University of Massachusetts Building Authority (UMBA), and Greystar GEDR Development LLC. PCER will enter into a long-term ground lease with UMBA for the land on which the building will be located, and will finance, construct, own, and operate the dormitory. The University will actively participate in the management and operation of the dormitory through its participation on the Project Operations Committee and through its residential life programs and other support services. Once PCER’s ground lease expires, ownership of the building will revert to UMBA for the benefit of the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth.
“Our students will benefit from these investments in quality living and learning facilities that will prepare them to succeed in a rapidly changing, highly competitive global economy,” said UMass Dartmouth Chancellor Robert E. Johnson. “When combined with our first-rate faculty, these facilities will guarantee our students the private college educational experience and public university value they so deserve.”
MassDevelopment, the state’s finance and development agency, works with businesses, nonprofits, financial institutions, and communities to stimulate economic growth across the Commonwealth. During FY2018, MassDevelopment financed or managed 384 projects generating investment of more than $4.1 billion in the Massachusetts economy. These projects are estimated to create or support 10,994 jobs and build or rehabilitate 830 housing units.