“Building Hope lived up to its name and provided the hard-to-quantify optimism gained through early-morning and late-night phone calls and e-mails, volunteer hours, and more. Together, we opened the school on time in the fall of 2006. We couldn’t have done it without Building Hope’s help.”

Diane L. Cottman, Executive Director, Latin American Montessori Bilingual Public Charter School

Credit Enhancement

Two Rivers Public Charter School

School Information:
260 students enrolled in grades Pre-K through 5. Enrollment by 2009 will be approximately 500 students in grades Pre-K
through 8

Facility:
35,400 square foot building located at 1227 4th Street NE, Washington, DC 20002

Project Cost:
$7.5 million, $212/sf

Building Hope Investment:
$800,000

Schedule:
Purchase completed and school occupied facility in December 2006

Two Rivers opened in 2004 in a temporary space. The school worked with a developer to design and build a permanent facility that the school then agreed to purchase for $7.5 million. A lender was willing to give the school a loan for $6.7 million without a credit enhancement. Building Hope agreed to provide an $800,000 credit guaranty for the remaining amount needed to complete the facility. On the basis of this guaranty, the lender agreed to loan the school the full purchase amount. As a result, the school did not have to take out a second, subordinated loan for the remaining amount of the purchase price. This loan would have had a higher interest rate. Thus, the credit enhancement from Building Hope allowed the school to save money on the purchase of its permanent facility.