Nursing-care facility counting on stimulus $$

The University Healthcare and Retirement Community project on Columbus Road in Athens is looking to get financing help from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, and has already secured some stimulus monies in the form of tax-exempt bonds.

Greg Haidet, president of Signet Capital, said Friday that his firm was working with project developers and the Athens County Commissioners to secure the funds.

Athens County would act as a conduit for the monies, Haidet said, by issuing bonds to facilitate the construction of the nursing-home facility.

"The short story is that this financing requires no money or support from the county or the state," he said. "This is all rolled out under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act."

The stimulus package created a $15 billion national program to allow the buyers of these bonds to treat the income as tax-exempt if the bonds meet certain qualifications such as minimum job creation and new construction, Haidet explained. The Columbus Road project is the only one in the area that qualifies specifically for this stimulus money, he continued.

Of the $15 billion nationwide, Ohio got $600 million, Haidet explained, which is then allocated to the various counties.

"Athens County, for some reason, only received $364,000 of allocation," he said. "So what we've done is we've met with the county commissioners and told them that we'd like them to see if they can get more allocation from the state."

Using Athens County as a conduit for the bonds does not impact the county financially at all, Haidet said. Once the bonds are issued, they will be purchased by a bank, and while the bank previously would have made a regular loan, they will now make a tax-exempt loan.

"The decreasing interest rate makes it a higher chance that the project will get up and running and will be profitable," he said.

The $364,000 has gotten approval from the county at this point, but has not yet been funded, Haidet said. The project developers would like to get more than $10 million in tax-exempt bonds, he said. The total cost of the project is projected at more than $10 million.