Franciscan Sisters Get Financing Help for Ohio CCRC Project

Ohio’s Wood County Commissioners agreed on Jan. 31 to take part in financing a $41 million continuing care retirement community (CCRC) by issuing tax-exempt “conduit bonds” for the Franciscan Living Communities’ St. Clare Commons project, located in Perrysburg, Ohio.

In recent months, several stories have surfaced regarding the struggles of CCRCs, including another Ohio community, managed by The Franciscan Sisters of Chicago, filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy, and an Illinois CCRC, founded by the Sisters of St. Joseph of the Third Order of St. Francis, filing for bankruptcy protection.

However, Wood County Commissioners are only the issuer of the bonds—which allows for them to be tax-exempt— and the county assumes no liability for the community.

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“The county itself will be under no obligation for these bonds,” said Andrew Kalmar, Wood County administrator. “If we did have liability, this wouldn’t be as easy of a decision as it was for the commissioners to make. But since we have no liability, we welcomed the opportunity to help this organization.”

As of last week, the Franciscan Living Communities organization is in the process of going through proposals from banks to complete the next step in financing the project, according to Kalmar. The organization did not respond to SHN’s request for comment as of press time.

Written by Alyssa Gerace

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