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FFC Loan to a Not-For-Profit in Atlanta “A True Blessing”

May 2006

Baron L. Coker, Executive Director of Making Our Way Better, Inc. (MOWB) said, “Getting the approval for the financing of our purchase of a multi-building property located at 5065 Roosevelt Highway, Union City ( Fulton County), Georgia was a true blessing, as it allows us to do what we do, but to do it better.”

Started in 1996, MOWB is a provider of life skills, health management, career development, job placement and training services to at-risk youth and income-assisted persons with the goal of helping these persons to be prepared for gainful employment and become productive members of the community.

Coker elaborated, “Among the myriad of services offered by MOWB are healthcare, individual, family and group counseling, literacy and GED assistance, specific skills and entrepreneurial training, assistance for small business development, an after school tutorial center for children in grades 4 through 12, sports fitness, cultural arts programs and childcare services. We do this now, but from separate facilities. Now we can offer all these services at one location - sort of a one-stop shop, if you will.”

The purchase of the land and improvements plus some new construction will be financed with a bank first mortgage of $775,000 and a second mortgage of $542,500 provided by Florida First Capital Finance Corporation (FFC) by means of its new loan program called “FLEX” (FFC's acronym for Fixed Rate, Long Term, Economic Development, E Xpress).

Not only is FFC's FLEX loan program flexible --offering loans for acquisition, construction and refinance of real estate nationwide -- but it also offers enhanced benefits to customers located in certain socially and economically disadvantaged areas. The FFC FLEX is also useful as a product supplement to the SBA 504, offering the availability of second lien positions for both for-profit and not-for-profit small businesses. With the FFC FLEX partnering with a bank lender is not a program requirement, which means small businesses have direct access to terms and conditions that would otherwise be unavailable to them (i.e., fixed rate, long-term loans for up to 90% of a project).

“We call FLEX loans ‘504 Look-a-Likes' because they provide 504 type financing projects to companies which are not eligible for the SBA 504. In this case, MOWB is a not-for-profit (the 504 is available only to for-profits) and it allowed us to move our loan base to a state other than Florida,” said Todd Kocourek, President and CEO of FFC. “The structuring of the financing is comparable to the 50-40-10 formula used in a typical 504 loan and the credit requirements are very similar.”

For more information, contact an FFC Loan Officer - NE Florida, Kristen Tackett (904-861-2270); NW Florida, James Hosman (850-433-3365); Central Florida, Jerry Mayes (321-689-6006); South Florida, Deborah Petrell (561-265-4210); Miami-Dade and Monroe Counties, Miguel Nieves, (786-229-4688); Tallahassee, Kailynn Summers (850-681-3330).