May 10, 2012
Hebrew College to keep its building
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Hebrew College is renegotiating its debt and will be able to keep its flagship Newton Building.
Rabbi Daniel Lehmann, president of the suburban Boston college, told The Jewish Advocate newspaper that the school has settled its original loan and refinanced its debt to $7.4 million from $32 million.
Lehmann formally announced the news at Wednesday’s 90th anniversary gala for the school.
A year-and-a-half ago, the school had announced a plan to sell the building, its main infrastructure on the Newton Centre campus, as a way of resolving its debt obligation.
The Jewish Advocate reported that the college has raised $3 million in equity, and Combined Jewish Philanthropies, Boston’s Jewish federation, will pay $5.2 million of the debt.
Israeli architect Moshe Safdie designed the building in 2001. Without the refinancing, the college reportedly had planned to move in with its neighbor, the Andover Newton Theological School.
The pluralistic school has campus and online programs in graduate studies, and adult and youth learning. It also runs rabbinical and cantorial schools.
