SOUTH KINGSTOWN – The Rhode Island Health and Educational Building Corp. has issued $19.8 million in tax-exempt Higher Education Facility Revenue Bonds for the R.I. Council on Postsecondary Education for improvements to University of Rhode Island facilities and campuses, RIHEBC announced this week.
The issuance is of two bonds, one for $17.5 million and the other for $2.3 million.
The larger of the two bonds will be used for multiple purposes. Roughly $6.5 million will be used to finance the engineering and construction of upgrades and component replacements for five municipal-level utility systems on the URI Kingston campus, providing improvements to the water, stormwater and steam systems on campus over three years. The project will affect every building on the Kingston campus.
Roughly $11 million of the larger bond will be used to finance the repavement of major parking facilities, roadways and walkways at the Kingston, Narragansett Bay and W. Alton Jones campuses. The project comes following a complete conditions assessment of the campuses’ roadways and parking surfaces. The first phase will include the two-year redevelopment of Upper College Road on the Kingston campus.
The other bond, issued for $2.3 million, will be used to finance the installation of upgraded fire alarm and sprinkler systems, among other life safety improvements at the university’s auxiliary enterprise buildings.
Both bonds were issued over a 20-year term. The average coupon for the $17.5 million tranche of debt is 4.6 percent, while the average coupon for the $2.3 million group is 4 percent.
