State loans survival money to some hard-hit businesses - TribLIVE

Jim Murphy said the coronavirus restrictions imposed by the government are killing his business at the Rostraver Ice Garden and Murphy’s Pub off Route 51 in Rostraver.

“I’ve lost $100,000 in bookings that’s not ice-related. I can’t open Murphy’s Pub. I’ve lost the home show, lost graduation parties, pro wrestling has been postponed and the Pennsylvania home school cyber testing,” Murphy said about businesses that would have been using the ice rink space were it not shut down.

“The governor has put us out of business,” Murphy said.

Murphy said the $100,000 he will receive in a low- interest loan from the state Department of Community and Economic Development’s Working Capital Assistance Funds program will keep the business alive, allowing him to pay the bills.

“The money will help me survive,” said Murphy. “Everything I try to do, I can’t do.”

The Ice Garden is one of 37 businesses in Westmoreland County to receive a combined $3.1 million in funding from the low-interest loan program. In the latest round of funding announced this week, the state provided $555,000 in loans to six businesses in the county.

Across the state, 148 companies have received a total of $12 million in Working Capital Assistance loans. The state’s industrial development authority made $61 million available for maximum loans of $100,000 for businesses with 100 or fewer full-time employees. Among the businesses to receive the loans in the latest round of funding were restaurants, athletic facilities, caterers, child care facilities, dental practices, manufacturers and health care professionals.

The state provided $410,000 in loans to five businesses in Allegheny County in the latest round of funding. In total, the state has provided $1.56 million in loans to 19 Allegheny County businesses.

One of those loan recipients is Henne Jewelers, which has survived two world wars, the 1918 Spanish Flu, the Great Depression, recessions and now the covid-19 pandemic.

As Allegheny County and most other counties in Southwestern Pennsylvania are preparing to move to the “yellow” phase in the governor’s plan to gradually reopen the economy, John Henne is ready to open his store in Pittsburgh’s Shadyside neighborhood to customers. To help compensate for the revenue lost over the past eight weeks, Henne Jewelers obtained a $100,000 loan from the state program.

“It will be used to maintain operations and pay bills,” Henne said.

Since the governor’s order shuttered his business March 16, Henne said the store lost a crucial sales period — Mother’s Day. That’s a special time they can’t make up until next year, Henne said.

The loan program will provide a bridge to these businesses as Pennsylvania begins to implement its staged reopening plan, said Community and Economic Development Secretary Dennis Davin.

Among those using that “bridge” is Ben Peoples Industries LLC of North Braddock, which designs and makes control systems for the entertainment industry. Its primary customers before March 2020 were Broadway shows and tours, so it has been hit hard by the closing of the entertainment industry, owner Ben Peoples said.

“Although we’ve been gradually growing our architectural lighting line … it has not been our primary work,” Peoples said.

With Broadway closed for the foreseeable future, Peoples said the company will be using its $28,734 loan “to expedite our pivot into the architectural lighting space.”

“Essentially, it’s giving us a cushion as we move into new markets and develop new customers,” Peoples said, noting the company’s work can be seen on the Homestead Grays Bridge at the Waterfront shopping center in Homestead, among other places.

Peoples credited The Progress Fund, a community development financial institution, with steering the company through the program. The Greensburg-based lender reached out to the company with an application and “worked really quickly” to get the application submitted.

For Dennis Ledgerwood, owner of Moore Tire Service Inc. in Greensburg, the $100,000 loan will provide money to cover wages and other bills for the past two months, when the auto repair and tire sale business was only open for a few days a week.

“People weren’t driving,” said Ledgerwood, who now is open full time.

Joe Napsha is a Tribune-Review staff writer. You can contact Joe at 724-836-5252, jnapsha@triblive.com or via Twitter .

Categories: Coronavirus | Local | Allegheny | Westmoreland