Rock Rapids, Iowa — It’s the news that the hospital board in Rock Rapids has been waiting for. The USDA has approved the project for a low-interest loan for the new hospital under construction in southwest Rock Rapids.
The board that makes decisions for the hospital — the Merrill Pioneer Community Hospital Board of Trustees, had a tough decision to make in early July of this year when they had to decide whether to proceed with construction even before the fate of an $18-million federal loan was known. They decided to proceed, and construction was begun even before an August 18th groundbreaking ceremony.
The current hospital in Rock Rapids is leased by Sanford Health, and the board decided that at the end of their lease with Sanford in 2019, they would lease the hospital to Avera Health, as Avera’s vision more closely aligned with that of the board. The new facility is hoped to be ready to use by the time the lease changes.
Hospital board president James Vander Woude gives us the news about the loan.
He says the board is encouraged by the news.
Vander Woude says the low-interest loan will be at 3.25% interest for 25 years, while similar commercial loans would be at around 4.25%. He says that 1 percent may not sound like much, but when you’re talking about $17.75 million, even one percent is significant.
He says that the way it works with this type of USDA loan is the project has to obtain a construction loan from a commercial provider or providers, and when the project is complete, the USDA loan funds will become available and can be used to pay back the construction loans.
Vander Woude says that the board is very thankful to their congressional delegation, Congressman Steve King and Senators Chuck Grassley and Joni Ernst for their support.
He says if all goes well, the board and Avera Health hope to open the new facility in February 2019. It will be located west of Highway 75 on South Tenth Avenue in Rock Rapids, in what used to be a farm field.
You can find out more at merrillpioneer.com.
