Butcher shop, bridge fabricator receive Fay-Penn funding
Kelly Tunney | Herald-Standard
Alicia Thompson, economic development specialist for the Fay-Penn Economic Development Council, details property acquisitions and jobs created, like the 175-seat call center on Roberts Road in Grindstone.
Kelly Tunney | Herald-Standard
Bob Shark, upper left corner, the Fay-Penn Economic Development Council executive director, gestures with his agenda to the board at their quarterly meeting at the Penn State Fayette Eberly Campus on Thursday.
Kelly Tunney | Herald-Standard
Bob Shark, the Fay-Penn Economic Development Council executive director, gestures with his agenda to the board at their quarterly meeting at the Penn State Fayette, the Eberly Campus, on Thursday.
Fay-Penn Economic Development Council announced the approval of low-interest loans for two recent business development projects during its quarterly board meeting Thursday at Penn State-Fayette.
Forty-eight jobs will be retained because of financing that allows a purchase of three new pieces of equipment for a major Pittsburgh job by New Salem-based Shane Felter Industries Inc.
Meanwhile, two full-time and two part-time jobs will be created because of financing approved for Mill Run-based May’s Custom Meat Processing LLC to expand its butchering and retail operations.
Fay-Penn Loan Program Coordinator Jessica Firmstone said Ray and Kimberly May formed their company in November and obtained $100,000 through Fay-Penn’s Small Business Loan Fund.
Firmstone said a $305,000 loan was secured from Somerset Trust Co., while the Mays provided $84,454 in capital. In a Fay-Penn news release, Kimberly May said the funds will help the couple to meet a demand for fresher, higher quality meats.
The 46-year-old Shane Felter has expanded from general steel fabrication for storage materials to bridge fabrication. It was lent $373,812 from Fay-Penn’s Fayette Capital Loan Fund as part of a $830,693 package also involving United Bank.
Shane Felter is a $5 million subcontractor in the $80.08 million deck replacement of the Liberty Bridge linking downtown Pittsburgh with the Liberty Tubes across the Monongahela River. PennDOT officials said the prime contractor for the work that began Monday is Tarentum-based Joseph B. Fay Co.
The bridge work is being done in phases with the first to last 52 days. Completion of the Liberty Bridge restoration is expected by July 2018.
Firmstone said Fay-Penn is able to assist with all phases of business development through a partnership with the Business Development Center at St. Vincent College near Latrobe.
She said the council has seven different loan programs offering anywhere from $5,000 to $750,000 in financing payable over a 3-5 year period with interest rates of 3 percent to 5 percent.
She said Fay-Penn’s loan portfolio also includes a daycare operation, numerous pizza shops, a retail awning company, a hotel, several construction companies, a candy company, a bed-and-breakfast, an insurance company and a bait and tackle shop.
Fay-Penn was in the spotlight earlier this month when Gov. Tom Wolf hailed the ContactUS LLC decision to set up shop in Redstone Township. ContactUS plans an $838,000 investment in a 175-seat call center at 111 Roberts Road, that preserves more than 120 jobs lost when another company shut down a call center there.
Fay-Penn provided site selection assistance to Columbus, Ohio-based ContactUS.
Fay-Penn anticipates a replenishing of a gaming-fueled small business development fund.
Fayette County Board of Commissioners Chairman Vince Vicites anticipates approximately $600,000 for the Local Share Account, which drew $1.1 million over the past two years from revenue tapped from the Lady Luck Casino at Nemacolin.
“We have another round of that (funding) coming in mid-June,” Vicites said.
Fay-Penn properties include the former Romeo & Sons food distribution plant which closed recently in North Union Township.
“We are actively seeking new tenants,” Fay-Penn Executive Director Robert Shark said. However, he said he couldn’t talk about the circumstances that led to the closing.
Visitors welcomed to the quarterly meeting include the newly-promoted United Bank Market President Clifford J. (C.J.) Callahan, who had been a commercial banking officer since September 2013 in United Bank Uniontown and Morgantown operations, and new Uniontown Area YMCA Executive Director Jacquelyn Core.
“I’m glad to be back home in Fayette County,” said Core, a Smithfield area native who assumed her new job two weeks ago after serving for 2½ years as provost and chief academic officer at Waynesburg College.