Approximately 49-Unit Patient Housing Facility to Support Healthcare Access Across the Northwest Arctic Borough
KOTZEBUE, Alaska. – The Public Finance Authority (PFA) has issued up to $183,635,000 in revenue bond financing for Maniilaq Association (pronounced “mah-NEE-luk”), an Alaska nonprofit corporation and P.L. 93-638 Tribal Health organization, to finance the development and construction of an approximately 49-unit patient housing facility in the City of Kotzebue, Alaska.
Maniilaq operates a health care facility in Kotzebue serving the communities of the Northwest Arctic Borough – a region that would rank as the 37th largest state in the country by land area. The new Patient Housing Facility will be constructed on a parcel of land owned by Maniilaq, located adjacent to its existing health care facility, and will provide housing for certain patients of that facility. The development, construction, and equipping of the facility will be carried out by TDP Maniilaq 2, LLC.
The financing builds on PFA’s prior issuance of revenue bonds for the Patient Housing Facility under Resolution No. 26-50A. Due to certain structural changes in the financing documents, PFA adopted a new resolution issuing the revenue bonds for this project.
The financing will enable Maniilaq to address a critical need for patient housing in one of the most geographically remote communities in the United States. By providing stable, on-site housing for patients receiving care at its facility, the project supports Maniilaq’s ability to deliver essential medical services to Northwest Arctic Borough residents, many of whom travel significant distances for treatment. The project is expected to promote significant economic and community development, including the creation and retention of employment and the stimulation of economic activity across the region.
“Access to quality health care in a community as remote as Kotzebue means more than just having providers on staff – it means having the infrastructure to support patients who need care, often from hundreds of miles away. This financing gives Maniilaq the tools to house those patients and ensure they can access the medical services they need, and that is exactly the kind of public benefit PFA was created to support,” said Bill Kacvinsky, PFA Board Chair.
Under the financing structure, the project site will be ground-leased to PFA by Maniilaq pursuant to a ground lease, and the completed Patient Housing Facility will be leased back to Maniilaq pursuant to a facility lease. Debt service on the bonds and other related fees, costs, and expenses will be paid from lease payments made by Maniilaq under the facility lease.
The PFA Board of Directors approved the resolution authorizing the issuance of the bonds, the project delivery agreement, the leases, and all necessary financing documents.