Jill’s House gets $2.7 million in city-backed bonds

With an enthusiastic and unanimous vote by the Bloomington City Council, Jill's House cleared its final hurdle Wednesday night.\nCouncil members approved an economic development bond initiative that allows the founders of Jill's House, a 50-bed temporary residence for cancer patients undergoing treatment at the Midwest Proton Radiotherapy Institute, to finance its construction with up to $3 million in city-backed bonds.\nBecause the bonds are being sold with the city of Bloomington's name on them, the interest rates will be much lower, saving Jill's House about $700,000 over 20 years, said Bonnie Patton, vice president of Fifth Third Bank, which is marketing and selling the bonds.\nSince MPRI, which operates at the IU Cyclotron Facility and is one of the most advanced cancer treatment centers in the world, requires treatments for about an hour a day over the course of eight weeks, Jill's House will give patients and their caretakers a place to stay while they are in Bloomington, said Eric Behrman, one of the driving forces behind the facility.\nJill's House is named for Behrman's daughter Jill, an IU sophomore murdered in the spring of 2000.\n"The support of the city and the community has been tremendous," he said.\nMarilyn Behrman, Jill's mother, said the project, which started as a dream to carry on Jill's memory, has been years in the making but will finally become a reality.\nJill's House will be responsible for paying back the bonds, which are expected to total about $2.7 million, through fundraising and the boarding fee it will charge patients who stay in the house. As part of the agreement with the city, Fifth Third Bank will petition the bonds and accept the liability, Patton said. If Jill's House is unable to pay back its debt to the city, Fifth Third Bank has an agreement to cover the expense with the help of German American Bank, Monroe Bank and Old National Bank.\nJill's House, which has already begun construction, is expected to be completed in late spring 2008, Eric Behrman said.