BRIGHTON, CO–The proposed Platte Valley Medical Center in Brighton, a once sleepy rural town that is becoming a fast-growing bedroom community along the northeast corridor, is getting a $111.8 million mortgage from the US Department of Housing and Urban Development. The mortgage is insured under the Federal Housing Administration Section 242 Hospital Mortgage Insurance program. It will support the construction of a new 70-bed facility near the current hospital, in a location that allows for expansion and is more easily accessible to major highways.

"HUD mortgage insurance will save Platte Valley Medical Center approximately $32 million in interest payments over the life of the loan," says HUD Regional Director John Carson. "The new Medical Center will better serve the surrounding community and help stimulate the local economy by generating construction jobs."

The new facility, which is scheduled to open in late 2006, will replace the current 58-bed hospital that is in a residential area and has no additional space for expansion. FHA's Section 242 program provides hospitals access to affordable financing for new construction, modernization and refinancing. The mortgage insurance enables the hospitals to obtain low mortgage interest rates by getting them a credit rating of AAA or AA.

Since the program began in 1968, FHA has insured more than 336 hospital mortgages for a total of more than $11.2 billion. Clients range from small rural facilities to some of the nation's top urban teaching hospitals. FHA insurance enables hospitals to enhance their creditworthiness because the United States Government backs their debt.