Where: Nevada City, California
Problem: Community healthcare center needed a new facility.
Solution: RCAC provided a loan to help the clinic relocate and expand its operations.
Western Sierra Medical Center (WSMC) provides comprehensive medical, dental and behavioral health care in Nevada, Sierra and Yuba counties. WSMC, the largest outpatient health provider in the community, has a direct health care connection to an estimated 20,000 residents—or about one of every four residents in the region.
WSMC’s board of directors planed, designed and developed a new state-of-the-art medical facility, which relocated services from the Whispering Pines building it had outgrown. Operating at full capacity impacted how long patients had to wait for treatment and appointments. Moreover, the center’s lease was expiring and the landlord decided to sell the building without renewing it.
RCAC loaned the clinic $4.87 million for a new medical clinic site acquisition, predevelopment and construction in Nevada City/Grass Valley. The construction loan was rolled over into a 30-year fixed rate loan, which RCAC offered through the USDA Community Facilities Loan Guarantee program. RCAC has a long partnership with USDA to provide loans as a nontraditional lender for important community projects like the WSMC. The loan allowed the clinic to relocate to an area known as the Brunswick Basin, one of the most active hubs in Grass Valley. The new building has opened to the public and provides a wide range of new medical services.
“One of the things that we really pride ourselves on, is we have services across the entire spectrum,” said WSMC’s CEO Scott McFarland. “We’ve been working hand-in-hand with providers and specialists to bring any service you can think of, in-house. We want this building to really represent a one-stop shop.”
According to McFarland, more than 90 percent of the building’s construction was done by local companies. Positioned across the street from a major senior housing development, the new building increases the proximity to the center and the local senior population.
“When I look at this building I see a structure that’s going to be here forever,” McFarland said.
