Grow Broome Fund has up to $2M available for area small businesses

BINGHAMTON, N.Y. — The Grow Broome Fund has up to $2 million available for lending to eligible small businesses in Broome County.

Launched in January, the Grow Broome Fund is a partnership between the Agency and the National Development Council to provide financing for small businesses, the Agency said in a Tuesday news release.

The U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) “partially” guarantees the financing.

The National Development Council has a field office in Binghamton, according to its website.

The Agency is the new name of the Broome County Industrial Development Agency (IDA). Its board of directors oversees both the IDA and the LDC (Broome County Local Development Corp.).

The Grow Broome Fund’s benefits for qualified borrowers are longer loan terms, larger loans, lower down payments and interest rates, and a “better” structure to match the term of the loan to the life of the assets that the loan is financing, according to the release.

This program is open to qualified, existing businesses in operation for at least 3 years with 2 to 500 employees and revenues generally between $500,000 and $20 million.

The parameters are subject to the SBA size standards by industry, the Agency said.

Real-estate investment or development projects and financing entities are not eligible, the Agency said.

Loans range from $150,000 to $2 million for businesses located in Broome County. Companies can use the loans for working capital, machinery and equipment, real-estate acquisition or renovation, and tenant improvements.

The process doesn’t include application fees, but closing fees are applied, the Agency said.

Businesses looking for more information on the Grow Broome Fund should contact Tom Gray, senior deputy director of operations at the Agency at (607) 584-9000.

Contact Reinhardt at ereinhardt@cnybj.com