The Primary Care Development Corporation (PCDC) closed on a third round of funding to Lakeshore Community Health Care (Lakeshore) to finance the building of a new health center facility in Sheboygan, Wisconsin. The project will consolidate Lakeshore’s existing clinics into a much larger building that will enable Lakeshore to substantially expand the care available to the area’s medically underserved residents, and employ over 100 staff by 2020.
Lakeshore was created through the commitment of the local community to address a significant unmet need for high quality care for its low-income residents. As a federally qualified health center, Lakeshore provides care for patients regardless of their ability to pay and has become the major source of dental care for Sheboygan County residents. When this expansion is complete, the new 21,000 square foot facility will offer medical, behavioral health, and dental services, as well as an on-site pharmacy, providing full-spectrum care for as many as 14,000 patients annually.
“We were delighted to work with Lakeshore to understand their expansion plans and craft a financing solution that was tailored to their specific needs,” said Anne Dyjak, PCDC Managing Director. “We were able to finance their project in three affordable phases, enabling them to grow and expand services over time. With this final financing, Lakeshore can now provide the full complement of services and care they envisioned for the community at the new Sheboygan Center.”
“We have identified nearly 30,000 residents who are underinsured, uninsured, or on high deductible plans,” said Kristin Blanchard Stearns, Lakeshore’s CEO. “Working with PCDC has allowed us to accelerate our expansion, prior to meeting our capital campaign goal of $6M, of which we have raised half. This expansion allows us to meet the immense dental, medical and behavioral health care needs in our community and we are now able to focus on providing additional services that will benefit our patients.”
With the first PCDC loan in June 2015, Lakeshore was able to acquire the property and renovate a portion of the building to co-locate its medical and behavioral health services. A second loan supported the completion of new dental facilities, doubling Lakeshore’s dental capacity. To complete the development, PCDC partnered with other local and national funders to provide $7.5 million in New Markets Tax Credits (NMTC) financing for which PCDC provided $6.5 million in NMTCs and Chase New Markets Corporation provided $1.0 million. PCDC also provided $4.1 million in debt financing with Wisconsin-based Forward Community Investments. Chase Community Equity, LLC was the tax credit investor and JP Morgan Chase Bank, N.A. provided short-term bridge financing.
About PCDC
Founded in 1993, the Primary Care Development Corporation is a nationally recognized nonprofit organization that catalyzes excellence in primary care through strategic community investment, capacity building, and policy initiatives to achieve health equity. To date, PCDC has helped over 1,000 primary care practices in 34 states to improve delivery of care by providing capital as well as training and technical assistance services. Since its founding, PCDC has leveraged over $850 million on projects that enhance health care capacity in low-income communities. In 2016, PCDC received a AA- rating from Aeris, an independent community investment rating agency.