Lenders Continue to Make SBA-Backed Small Business Loans in Georgia Despite Slump in Economy

Banks and other active SBA lenders have approved small business loans recently throughout the state including financing for new office facilities for a dentist, an attorney and physician along the Georgia coast as well as an SBA microloan for a coffee shop in Cleveland, and an SBA guaranteed Patriot Express Loan for a large janitorial service firm in Atlanta.

“I would say our SBA department is experiencing higher than normal demand,” said Jon Daly, Senior Vice President at RBC Bank in Atlanta. “We are wary of a few industries right now, but   if a deal is fundamentally sound, we are interested.”

Daly said his office, which covers Georgia, Alabama and Florida, has over $21 million in SBA 7(a) and 504 loans in the pipeline, including an $800,000 loan to a chiropractor in North Atlanta.  

Ken Davis established his Good Success Company Inc. eight years ago in Atlanta and has grown to about 100 employees who service janitorial contracts for both government and private sector clients.

Davis, a Navy veteran, recently got a $150,000 Patriot Express Loan through Sunrise Bank    of Atlanta. Davis landed his first government contract with the Georgia Department of Human Resources and soon expanded that work into Albany, Cartersville and Newnan.

Patriot Express Loans can go up to $500,000 and carry low-interest rates for veterans, transitioning service members and spouses seeking to start or expand small businesses.

Davis says his loan will help him “float” his first payrolls on new contracts with the Atlanta Housing Authority and Fulton County. “Without the capital from my Patriot Express loan, we couldn’t take on any new business, even if we were successful in winning new contracts,” he added.    

Dr. Darren Owens, DDS, used a 504 Loan this month from Georgia Resources Capital, an SBA Certified Development Company, to buy  a building on Tybee Island for his Island Dentistry practice. The $1.2 million loan includes $550,000 from the Coastal Bank of Georgia. It allowed Dr. Owens to purchase the 2,200 square foot building which he had been renting over the past year.

A 504 Loan provides long-term fixed rates for the borrower and is partially funded with an SBA guaranteed debenture issued by the Certified Development Company. “I got a good rate  with 20-year terms,” said Dr. Owens. The dentist also has a practice in South Atlanta but he     and his wife were attracted to the Georgia coast when they bought a condo on Tybee Island in 2001.

Owens has a solid credit rating and he’s confident his dental practice can weather the current economic storm. “Even when it’s slow, you can pay your bills in a bad economy,” he said.  

Catherine DiLorenzo used a 504 Loan with the Coastal Area District Development Authority (CADDA) to build an office duplex in Brunswick to expand her law practice. Approximately $225,000 of her loan was funded this month by CADDA, while the Coastal Bank provided the other $240,000 in permanent financing for her new office. She opened her first law office in nearby St. Mary’s in 1996 and specializes in Social Security Law.

“I was very pleased with the help I got from Robin Blackwell, the chief financial officer at CADDA,” said DiLorenzo who received her law degree from the State University in Buffalo, New York.

Blackwell, on the other hand, pointed out that the 504 Loan Program is geared to helping expansions like DiLorenzo’s firm, rather than business start ups. “She had excellent credit and has been in business for 12 years,” said Blackwell. “Her new office is also adjacent to the Social Security Office in Brunswick where case hearings are held.”  

SBA certified microlenders are another source of financing for small business, including start-ups and home-based businesses. Appalachian Community Enterprises Inc. (ACE) is a nonprofit, SBA microlender based in Cleveland, Georgia. It has approved two microloans in recent weeks included $20,000 to Maria Greene for her new coffee shop. Called “The Mill,” her shop, with a line of herbal products, is scheduled to open next month in the Village Plaza Shopping Center in Cleveland.

“ACE is very woman-friendly,” explained Ms.Greene who already had a good credit rating from a window/door installation business she and her son operate. “They allowed me to present a business plan and explain where I’m going with my business.” She pointed out that her new shop will carry products from four other small businesses in the Cleveland area.