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Leaders of the Warsaw Community Development Corp. are hoping to build upon the success of their decade-old revolving loan program.
After seeing retailers use more than $500,000 in loans spread among 29 members of the downtown business community, the WCDC will be seeking more support from banks and local companies to re-invigorate the program that's helped solidify the downtown business district's future.
The $300,000 loan pool has more than $200,000 in outstanding loans as a result of several loans in recent years. These loans have added significantly to several retail operations that occupy buildings formerly in tatters.
"We'd like to raise $200,000 to get that program up and running again," said Trish Brown, executive director of the WCDC. "We think it's a worthwhile investment in the community and we have other people making applications for funds."
The program's origins can be traced to the mid 1980s when the downtown's most prominent property owner, Frank Saemann, worked out a loan program with several banks to renovate a downtown block along Center Street adjacent to the Kosciusko County Courthouse.
The building, one of the oldest in city history, was in disrepair and characterized by boarded-up windows and steel siding blowing in the wind.
Soon afterward, community leaders, including current WCDC board president Rick Snodgrass, former WCDC representaive Bob Boley and Mayor Jeff Plank, initiated interest in a revolving loan program for retailers to fix up building facades.
Plank recalls the project as one of his first public-private partnerships after first being elected in 1983. To initiate some interest, officials took photos of the more dilapidated store fronts, many of which were "boarded up as if in anticipation of a hurricane."
A slide presentation was then made before bankers and civic leaders at a meeting at the old ViewPoint restaurant, who were then encouraged to rally behind the needed improvements.
"That was, in part, the birth of the facade loan program," Plank said. "It was a building block."
The loan program was first established with the assistance of four local banks, the city of Warsaw, and R.R. Donnelley and Sons, and a loan pool of $200,000 was established.
The loans are available at 75 percent of the current prime lending rate. As the loans are paid off, the lenders receive the interest while the principal is reinvested into the loan pool.
The program has evolved over the years to meet the changing needs and goals of the WCDC and its retailers.
In the beginning, most loans during the first two years averaged about $2,800.
Several years later, though, community leaders realized the need for more significant improvements to downtown buildings and restructured the program to include first floor and second floor renovations with an emphasis on constructing second floor apartment dwellings.
In recent years, loans ranged from $20,000 to $40,000 and have led to major improvements to buildings that otherwise might have been left in disrepair and underutilized.
Since 1992, a handful of property owners has made significant renovations and created new upstairs apartment dwellings as a result.
Center Appraisal, The Downtown Bar and Grill, and Champs Sporting Goods were among the companies that renovated interiors and added apartments to existing buildings. In the past year, a law firm and investment company have moved into older buildings that have been renovated.
"It might not be that uncommon now, but it was unique when it began," said Snodgrass, recalling that the New York Times profiled the program shortly after its establishment.
"I think it's had a very positive force. People in the downtown have a certain amount of pride, and probably some of the work would have been done anyway - we just made it a little easier," he said. "It just made it a lot more attractive."
Snodgrass said he believes the program's success has led to unrelated improvements.
The program has fueled almost every major retail improvement in the downtown in the past decade. One of the few exceptions were Bob and Pam Beam, who chose not to use the loan program when their businesses, Beam and Beam Clothiers and Thorntree, underwent major renovations a few years ago. They chose not to use the program to avoid following historical renovation compliances.
"If you look at our downtown, I think it spurred other people to improve their buildings. Even though the Beam family did not use the WCDC loan program, I think seeing what was going on downtown kind of spurred them on," Snodgrass said.
