DANVERS - North Shore Community College got the money it needs to pay for a $19 million addition to its Danvers campus through the help of area legislators and local officials.
State Sen. Fred Berry, D-Peabody, is among those credited with helping the college secure a $7.6 million state loan, which will pay for almost half of the project.
Without the loan, which was provided through the state Health and Education Finance Authority (HEFA), there wouldn't have been enough money to pay for the project, college officials said.
HEFA is a not-for-profit agency that provides low cost, tax-except capital funding to health care and higher education institutions, such as the college.
The rest of the project money will be borrowed through bonds.
Once the new building opens, the college will close its Sohier Road facility and use the rent money to help pay for the HEFA loan, college President Wayne Burton said in a prepared statement.
"The college owes Sen. Fred Berry a tremendous debt of gratitude for his help in getting funds released for this project and in securing a HEFA loan," Burton said.
"His continued support on this project since plans were formulated more than 10 years ago will allow us to move from quarters we rent to those we own."
Burton also thanked Board o Higher Education Chancellor Judith Gill and state Division of Capital Asset Management (DCAM) Commissioner David Perini for their assistance.
DCAM, which oversees the college property, awarded the $19 million construction contract to a Peabody construction company.
Congress Construction Co. is scheduled to start building in May. The project will likely take 20 months to complete. The company was the lowest bidder among the four finalists. The new addition will be a three-story, 100,000-square-foot academic building, library and cafeteria at the college's Ferncroft Road campus.
A covered walkway will connect the new structure to the 70,000-square foot Health Professions and Science Building, which opened in 1994.
The project architects are DiMella Schaffer Associates of Boston.