Project Overview
The Berks IDA provided a $650M revenue bond issue to fund the acquisition of five acute-care hospitals in three counties in the southeastern Pennsylvania region.
What Was Done
The majority of bond proceeds were used to acquire the following:
- Brandywine Hospital, Coatesville, Chester County, 234 beds
- Chestnut Hill Hospital, Philadelphia, 135 beds
- Jennersville Regional Hospital, West Grove, Chester County, 63 beds
- Phoenixville Hospital, Chester County, 151 beds
- Pottstown Memorial Medical Center, Montgomery County, 232 beds
- The bonds were also used to refinance, among other things, the design, construction, installation and furnishing of the 476,000 SF Reading Health-Plex for Advanced Surgical & Patient Care.
- BerksIDA participated in a working group to help close the transaction which included: Stevens and Lee; Georgeadis Setley; Citi Group; Barclays; KPMG and Kutak Rock.
- We coordinated the filing of an application to the State which subsequently was approved and found to be in compliance with the Pennsylvania Economic Development Financing law.
- Berks IDA in concert with Stevens and Lee conducted and advertised public hearings in Berks and verified they had occurred in the other affected counties while also obtaining the approval of each county chief-elected official.
- We provided public transparency for the transaction including responding to open records requests and a number of press inquiries.
In Conclusion
The Berks IDA helped the Reading Health System (RHS) to purchase the five hospitals. RHS then changed its name to Tower Health. Before the acquisition it had 714 patient beds and 5,600 fulltime employees. It now has 1,500 patient beds and over 12,000 employees. Tower Health established its corporate headquarters at the Knitting Mills in Wyomissing in 2019 helping to make Berks County the center of a very large and exciting network of healthcare providers.