By Joe Arney/NJBIZ
March 12, 2013
Wells Fargo & Co. announced last week the closing of a $500,000 equity equivalent investment to New Jersey Community Capital, a nonprofit community development lender.
By Joe Arney/NJBIZ
March 8, 2013
Hundreds turned out to hear from industry panels and in-the know experts at today’s NJBIZ Real Estate Symposium, featuring guest speakers Michele Brown, CEO of the Economic Development Authority, and Dr. Robert Barchi, president of Rutgers University, as well as a lively panel discussion on the post-Sandy development discussion.
The New Jersey Economic Development Authority’s next public Board Meeting will take place at 10:00 a.m. on Thursday, March 14, 2013 at 36 West State St., Trenton, NJ 08625. A copy of the proposed agenda can be found prior to the meeting at www.njeda.gov/Board. Following the Board Meeting, minutes and the full agenda will also be available at www.njeda.gov/Board.
By Mary Ann Bourbeau/NJBIZ
March 6, 2013
Kearny-based food distributor this afternoon as the first stop on a statewide tour highlighting key resources available to small businesses.
In the case of Family Food Distributors, one of the most critical resources was the New Jersey Small Business Development Centers, which helped the company develop its first business plan and guided ownership in obtaining a loan to expand a few years later.
Now, the SBDC is helping the company as it aims to recover from Hurricane Sandy, after the storm cost Family Food Distributors more than $700,000 in damage and lost inventory.
By Jared Kaltwasser/NJBIZ
February 25, 2013
Time is winding down for businesses and homeowners affected by Hurricane Sandy to apply for loans from the U.S. Small Business Administration.
SBA spokeswoman Kathy Cook said storm victims have until Friday to apply for low-interest SBA loans. The agency has issued some 172,000 loan applications to business and homeowners, but as of last week, had received only 25,722 completed applications.
Of those completed applications, 7,565 have been approved, resulting in more than $515 million worth of loans.
By Ed Beeson/Star-Ledger
February 25, 2013
Policyholders at odds with their insurer over Hurricane Sandy-related claims soon will have a more cost-effective and efficient way to resolve their differences over coverage, the Christie administration announced today.
New Jersey’s Department of Banking and Insurance is setting up a mediation program to give consumers the chance to settle insurance disputes without the time and expense of litigation. The department currently is seeking proposals from companies to provide mediation services, and interested firms have until March 7 to submit a bid.
The program would sit an experienced mediator between policyholders and their insurance companies in order to review the case and assist in settlement discussions. Similar efforts were undertaken with success in Gulf Coast states after hurricanes Katrina and Rita slammed the region in 2005, Kenneth Kobylowski, commissioner of the insurance department, said yesterday.
By Charles Hack/Jersey Journal
February 22, 2013
Very few small-business owners in Hudson County that were shut down by Hurricane Sandy are taking out loans to help them reopen, according to a Jersey City-based nonprofit that assists budding entrepreneurs.
It’s not that the small-business owners don’t need the money, said Rising Tide Capital’s managing director of programs, Jay Savulich.
“But they were hardly making money before the flooding and with the loss of revenue it’s difficult to bear,” said Savulich.
By Kathy Chang/North Brunswick Sentinel
February 21, 2013
Start-up life-science businesses are thriving at the New Jersey Economic Development Authority’s (EDA) Commercialization Center for Innovative Technologies (CCIT), which runs along the Route 1 research and development corridor.
CCIT is part of the Technology Centre of New Jersey, which sits on more than 50 acres in North Brunswick. CCIT, the state’s leading life-sciences incubator, has welcomed 14 new tenants since January 2010, including Linnovision Inc., which moved to the facility last month. CCIT has helped support the creation of an estimated 1,000 new jobs in the state.
“This is a place where we mentor so that they can grow and expand,” said Michele A. Brown, chief executive officer of the state EDA. “Our vision is for them to never totally leave these grounds. As they graduate, our hope is for them to become a tenant in one of our buildings on the site.”
By Melissa Hayes/The Record
February 19, 2013
A grant program for businesses and homeowners impacted by superstorm Sandy should be up and running by the end of March or early April, Governor Christie said Tuesday.
The state plans to use the majority of $1.8 billion in federal funds from the Department of Housing and Urban Development to create community development block grant programs to help homeowners rebuild primary residences, help cover the cost of elevating homes out of flood zones, and to help businesses re-open.
The federal government needs to sign off on the state’s proposal before the funds can be spent. Christie said he spoke to Housing and Urban Development Secretary Shaun Donovan Monday and it could take several weeks for that approval to come.
“We’re moving aggressively to get these federal relief dollars with the homeowners and businesses as quickly as possible,” he said.
Christie said he’s hopeful the programs could be in place by the last week of March or the first week of April.
“So as you begin to plan the rebuilding of your own homes, the elevation of your own homes, take a deep breath, get your plans in place and then look for the advertising of these programs in the end of March and beginning of April so you can take advantage of them,” he told a crowd of residents gathered in the Lavallette Fire Department for his news conference. “They’re there for you to take advantage of them. The more New Jerseyans who sign up for them, the more we’ll fund them.”