Loans offered for business enterprise impacted by Lowell Point landslide

When a landslide blocked all road access to the neighborhood of Lowell Point, just south of Seward, final spring, it hit firms challenging. Now, the deadline is approaching for these firms to apply for a loan from the Little Enterprise Administration to support offset the financial impacts of the landslide.

The loans, known as Financial Injury Disaster loans, can be up to $two million, and can go to any modest non-farm firms or nonprofits. There’s a loan interest price of about two.935% for business enterprise and 1.875% for nonprofits.

A single business enterprise that is applying for the loan is Miller’s Landing in Lowell Point — a campground, fishing charter business enterprise and occasion space.

In the spring of 2022, co-owner Possibility Miller was gearing up for a major summer season.

“We had a pretty thriving year in 2021, and so going into 2022, we wanted to be prepared for it. We hired a distinctive management group, we restructured, we created major investments,” he stated. “And then we had the landslide come about.”

Miller stated the organization lost amongst $500 and $600 thousand as a outcome of the landslide.

Even soon after the road partially reopened just ahead of Memorial Day and completely reopened mid-June, a lot of guests had been just also anxious to make the trip out. He stated signage and the visible harm to the hillside didn’t support.

“People are nervous,” he stated. “The story’s nevertheless fresh in people’s minds.”

Miller’s Landing began providing a cost-free water taxi service to get individuals to and from Lowell Point whilst the road was closed. And whilst it kept their 40 staff busy, it didn’t bring in any cash.

Sooner or later, Miller stated, the state paid the organization about $one hundred thousand for the service. Nonetheless, it was a hard summer season. He described this previous fall as the tightest season in a lot more than 40 years of business enterprise.

“It does not appear like considerably, but when you have a 90 day season, one hundred day season, and you shed 30 days of it, that is a major deal,” he stated. “And it straight relates to our bottom line.”

Miller stated that whilst he is applying for the SBA loan, he hopes he’ll under no circumstances essentially have to invest the cash. But he desires to be a lot more protected than sorry if anything devastating occurs once again.

The application is due April 12.

According to the SBA, federal disaster loans are offered in the Kenai Peninsula Borough, Kodiak Island Borough, Lake and Peninsula Borough, Matanuska-Susitna Borough and the Municipality of Anchorage. You can stop by https://disasterloanassistance.sba.gov/ to apply.