FOR RELEASE: Immediate, Wednesday, July 27, 2005

Board Approves 9 Bond Financings

ALBANY – The Board of the Dormitory Authority met today and approved the following bond issues:

• Department of Health: New York State Home for Veterans and Their Dependents at Oxford. An issue of up to $25 million in 30-year tax-exempt bonds will pay for the State’s share of the construction of a new Oxford Veterans Nursing Home and system-wide improvements at State medical care facilities. The bonds will fixed and/or variable interest rate. A lead manager has not been selected yet for this negotiated sale. The Authority’s bond counsel is Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe. State medical facilities, operated by the Department of Health, are the four veterans’ nursing homes, Helen Hayes Hospital and the Roswell Park Cancer Institute.
• Hospital for Special Surgery. An issue for up to $68 million in tax-exempt fixed-rate bonds with maturities of up to 40 years will fund the first of two phases of expansion at this Manhattan hospital. The project is a 49,000 square foot addition to the west wing with two new elevators, and construction of an eighth floor on the east wing. Merrill Lynch & Co. will be the lead manager for this negotiated sale. The Authority’s bond counsel is Winston & Strawn. The bonds will have a mortgage insured by the Federal Housing Administration (FHA), with a wrap policy of municipal bond insurance.
• Montefiore Medical Center. An issue of up to $180 million in tax-exempt fixed-rate bonds with terms of 40 years or less was approved. This will be an advance refunding of the hospital’s 1996 Dormitory Authority bonds. The bonds will be sold under the federal Liberty Bond waiver, which permits one additional tax-exempt advance refunding for certain New York City hospitals. Governor George E. Pataki has allocated $180 million of the State’s available waiver to accommodate Montefiore’s needs. The term of the new mortgage will be extended by 12 years to October 1, 2026. Merrill Lynch & Co. will be the lead manager for this negotiated sale. The Authority’s bond counsel is Winston & Strawn. The bonds will have an FHA-insured mortgage, with a wrap policy of municipal bond insurance.
• Mount St. Mary College. Up to $30 million in 30-year bonds will be sold to finance the renovation of the College Courts, a complex of 10 student apartment buildings. The bonds may be tax-exempt or taxable, and sold at fixed and/or variable interest rates. George K. Baum & Company will be the lead manager for this negotiated sale. Harris Beach is the Authority’s bond counsel. Radian Asset Assurance Inc. has committed to provide municipal bond insurance. Mount St. Mary College is in Newburgh.
• St. Cabrini Nursing Home Inc. Up to $55 million in tax-exempt fixed-rate 30-year bonds will finance construction of th4ree residential wings and modernization and renovation of existing buildings at St. Cabrini Nursing Home in Dobbs Ferry. Proceeds will also refund the home’s share of New York State Housing Finance Agency’s Nursing Home and Health Care Project Revenue Bonds, 1998 Series A. Cain Brothers will be the lead manager for this negotiated sale. Harris Beach is the Authority’s bond counsel. The bonds are expected to be insured by GNMA Securities will be further secured by a negative arbitrage letter of credit.
• The McQuade Foundation. An issue of up to $9.72 million in 20-year tax-exempt fixed-rate bonds will finance construction and renovations to the McQuade Foundation’s Kaplan School Academic Center. The school, in New Windsor, provides education, social and counseling services to students in the lower Hudson Valley with emotional problems. Ambac has indicated that it will commit to insure the bonds. First Albany Capital will be the lead manager for this negotiated sale, and Squire Sanders & Dempsey is the Authority’s bond counsel. The McQuade Foundation has been approved as a special education school under Chapter 853 of the Laws of 1976.
• Providence Rest. Up to $45 million in 30-year tax-exempt fixed-rate bonds will finance the upgrade and renovation of the entire nursing home, which is located in the Bronx. ACA Financial Guaranty Corporation has committed to insuring the bonds. Merrill Lynch & Co. will be the lead manager for this negotiated sale; Squire Sanders & Dempsey is the Authority’s bond counsel.
• Fordham University. Up to $110 million in 28-year tax-exempt bonds will be sold to refund certain maturities of Dormitory Authority bonds issued in 1998 and 2002. The final maturity of the refunding bonds will note exceed the term of the bonds to be refunded. XL Capital Assurance Inc. is expected to insure the bonds. Merrill Lynch & Co. is the lead manager for this negotiated sale, and Squire Sanders & Dempsey is the Authority’s bond counsel.
• State University of New York Dormitory Facilities. Up to $230 million in 30-year tax-exempt fixed-rate bonds will be sold to finance dormitory capital projects throughout the SUNY system, refund certain Dormitory Authority bonds that would produce savings, and remarket the Authority’s State University Dormitory Facilities Series 2003C issue, now federally taxable, as fixed-rate tax-exempt bonds. A lead manager has not been named for this negotiated sale. Squire Sanders & Dempsey is the Authority’s bond counsel. Bond insurance will be considered if available and economical. SUNY plans to build new student residences at its schools at Alfred, Brockport, Buffalo State, the School of Optometry, Potsdam and Purchase, a new parking facility at Upstate Medical Center in Syracuse, and renovate student residences at Albany, the University at Buffalo, Cobleskill, Cortland, Fredonia, Geneseo, New Paltz, Oneonta, Oswego and Potsdam.

For more information, contact Press Officer Claudia Hutton at (518) 257 3382, or CHutton@dasny.org .