New Upstate Medical School funded by Innovative JEDA Bond Financing
June 22, 2011
SPARTANBURG, SC – June 22, 2011 – A new medical school in the Upstate is being funded by innovative bond financing facilitated by the South Carolina Jobs-Economic Development Authority (JEDA).
This is one of the first deals in South Carolina to combine New Markets Tax Credits (NMTC) with tax-exempt bonds for a 501(c)(3) organization, which provides businesses located in areas in need of economic development with lower cost capital and more flexible financing terms.
The $14.6 million economic development revenue bond (as well as the portion of the project eligible for New Markets Tax Credits) will help pay for the construction and equipping of the Carolinas Campus of the Edward Via College of Osteopathic Medicine (VCOM) on Howard Street in downtown Spartanburg.
VCOM opened its first site in Blacksburg, Va., in 2003 in the Virginia Tech Corporate Research Center and graduated its first class in 2007. The Spartanburg campus is expected to open in the fall of 2011 and will add classes of 150 students a year for a total enrollment of 600 students. These students will have access to dining and library facilities and athletic events of nearby Wofford College, as well as residency opportunities with Spartanburg Regional Medical Center.
A minimum of 40 new jobs will be created at the Carolinas Campus in the first year, a number expected to grow to at least 60 within two years of the medical school opening.
“JEDA funding is playing a key role in meeting our goal of educating community-focused medical doctors dedicated to improving health care across Appalachia. The Carolinas Campus is a major step forward in fulfilling our mission,” said William P. King, VCOM’s Associate Vice President for Student Services.
“The addition of VCOM to the Upstate community is exciting on a lot of levels. Helping to create innovative financing for this kind of progress is particularly gratifying,” said Tyler Smith, legal counsel with Haynsworth Sinkler Boyd in Greenville.
“Improving medical care by producing more than a hundred new doctors every year in Spartanburg helps the entire region. This is an exciting project that is the result of forging partnerships stretching from South Carolina into southwest Virginia,” said Harry Huntley, Executive Director of JEDA in Columbia.
About JEDA
For more than 25 years, JEDA has promoted the business and economic welfare of South Carolina by assisting in the financing of public and private projects throughout the Palmetto State. JEDA serves as a statewide conduit issuer of special obligation revenue bonds and acts on behalf of the borrower to access financial markets and capital. Since its creation in 1983, JEDA has facilitated the issuance of 400 bonds totaling more than $7 billion and resulting in the creation of more than 25,000 jobs.
For more information regarding JEDA, please visit our website at www.scjeda.com or contact Harry A. Huntley, CPA, Executive Director, at (803) 737-0268 or [email protected].
