Weld-Larimer loan fund gets $650,000

FORT COLLINS — A recent infusion of $650,000 in federal Community Development Block Grant funds will help eligible Northern Colorado businesses hire new employees and expand their operations.

Larry Burkhardt, Upstate Colorado Economic Development president and CEO, said the money is available for loans under the Weld-Larimer Revolving Loan Fund administered by Upstate.

“Now we have some more money to continue making loans to Northern Colorado businesses and companies,” Burkhardt said. “Some of these loan stories are pretty amazing.”

Last year, for example, the fund lent $500,000 to Bach Composites, a Danish supplier of materials to Vestas Wind Systems, which has Northern Colorado production facilities in Windsor and Brighton.

Vestas stipulated that the company be in production within a few months, making it necessary for Bach to quickly retrofit an existing building. Bach found the former Colorado Railcar building in Fort Lupton and secured a $3.3 million loan from the Colorado Governor’s Energy Office Revolving Loan Fund.

With the $500,000 from the Weld-Larimer Revolving Loan Fund, Bach was able to close the funding gap to finalize the building’s purchase and retrofit.
As a result, more than 130 new Northern Colorado jobs were created.

Another business — this one in Berthoud — also received a $500,000 loan from the fund in 2010 that helped it continue to employ 55 workers in danger of losing their jobs.

BAE Container Solutions, which made specialized containers for military operations, was slated for closure under a company-wide downsizing. But General Manager Rob Carr believed there was still enough business to keep the Berthoud facility going and persuaded BAE to sell it to him. The only catch: The purchase had to close within 30 days.

Working with Adams Bank and Trust, Kennedy and Coe and the town of Berthoud, Carr was able to finalize the purchase with a loan from the Weld-Larimer Revolving Loan Fund.

That enabled the new company — Summit Solutions — to continue to offer high-paying jobs in Berthoud.

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