Third District U.S. Rep. Dean Phillips (DFL-Minn.) visited Primrose School of West Plymouth, Minn., on April 13 to mark the record use of the Small Business Administration’s 504 Loan Program in 2021.
Phillips was guided on the tour of the accredited private preschool by Primrose franchise owner Saleem Karmaliani, who used a 504 Loan to acquire the Plymouth site. The program provides long-term, fixed-rate financing of up to $5 million for major fixed assets. Last year, Karmaliani, already a Twin Cities-area Primrose franchise owner of six other locations, used a 504 Loan to acquire a Primrose facility in Edina, Minn. Karmaliani’s loans were approved at $5.5 million each for his plans to install solar panels and undertake lighting work.
Also joining Phillips and Karmaliani on the tour was SBA Minnesota District Director Brian McDonald, Jonathan Sage-Martinson, CEO at Amplio, which served as a liaison to the SBA during the 504 Loan Program approval process; Amplio Senior Loan Officer Andy Clausen; and Jason Vercruysse, senior vice president at Redwood Falls, Minn.-based Minnwest Bank, which worked with Karmaliani to secure both the Plymouth and Edina loans.
Karmaliani’s use of a 504 loan came during a record year of use for the program. According to the SBA, 504 program lending in Minnesota hit a record $448.8 million in fiscal year 2021, a 168-percent increase from the $167.5 million in FY 2020. Vercruysse noted that SBA lending at his bank nearly doubled in 2021 from the previous year.
Sage-Martinson said an array of industries — especially manufacturing, hospitality and child care — have benefitted from the influx of 504 lending, as many manufacturers expanded their warehouses during the pandemic to account for the major increase in consumer demand for goods and the SBA embarked on an awareness campaign to increase awareness of the program’s benefits.