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Gary Haber
Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake, center, speaks at an event publicizing the city's micro-loan program in front of The Charmery, Hampden's newest ice cream shop. Pictured with her, from left, are City Councilwoman Mary Pat Clarke, Laura and David Alima, co-owners of the Charmery, and Benn Ray, owner of Atomic Books.
Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake met with business owners in Hampden on Wednesday to promote the city's small business lending program and the $300,000 still left to be distributed.
BaltimoreMICRO provides loans of $5,000 to $30,000 for Baltimore businesses with less than $1 million in annual revenue. The program, administered by the Baltimore Development Corp., launched in January with $375,000 — $125,000 from the city $250,000 from the state of Maryland.
About $75,000 has been lent so far, and Rawlings-Blake wants to spread the word about the program to the city's small business community. But some business owners, like David Alima and his wife Laura Alima, already know about it. The Alimas received a BaltimoreMICRO loan that helped pay for construction their new Hampden ice cream parlor, the Charmery, which opened in July. The loan helped complete the financing when construction costs for turning the 1800s-era building into a modern ice cream shop exceeded a bank loan the couple got, David Alima said.
"We couldn't have opened without it," David Alima said. He declined to disclose the amount of the BaltimoreMICRO loan.
Rawlings-Blake said the program shows what can happen "when good public policy intersects with entrepreneurship."
"I'm committed to making sure Baltimore is a welcoming environment for small businesses," she said.
Loans under the program are for up to 7 years and cover up to 95 percent of project costs. The interest rate runs between 4.5 percent to 8 percent, said Jeffrey Pillas, the BDC's chief financial officer.
The Baltimore city program is one of several efforts by local governments to provide capital to small businesses, some of which have struggled to land traditional bank lending during and after the Great Recession. Baltimore County, this week, increased the size of its small business loan fund to $13.9 million and announced five more banks have joined the program.
Gary Haber covers Banking, Finance, Insurance, Law
