State To Provide Micro-Loans For Businesses Hit Hard By Winter
BOSTON (CBS) - The snow may have let up, but it is leaving a lingering effect in the form of a financial freeze. Businesses have been hit hard by the winter. The snow is making it hard to get around, leaving nowhere to park and crippling the MBTA.
But help is on the way in the form of a state-run low-interest micro-loan program. And that is welcome news to Boston's Seaport District, where WBZ's Jon Keller found signs of hope for recovery.
On Friday, people were lining up at the Seaport World Trade Center for what may seem an alien concept - golf.
"In the last three days we have seen our online ticket sales skyrocket," Golf Expo Producer Barbara Pudney said. "I think people are really looking forward to the idea that spring has got to come."
And not a moment too soon for the center and other Seaport businesses who've labored through a stormy month that turned their usually-lucrative location into a virtual ghost town.
"I think we were the only restaurant open within the district," William Hacking of the Seaport Hotel said. "Probably about four or five days."
And while Hacking says captive hotel guests helped keep them in business, the Valentine's Day weekend storm forced the cancellation of the second day of the annual Boston Wine Expo, which usually draws a packed house to the Seaport District.
"People can't get here so they're cancelling their rooms right left and center so it's a very volatile situation," he said.
"You could be talking about losing based on the show anywhere from $100,000 to half a million dollars if your show doesn't happen," Pudney said.
But as 'snowpocalypse' subsides, hope for an economic upswing is blossoming. "I think it will be positive. People want to get out, they've got cabin fever," Hacking said.
"Bring your family bring your friends come and have a good time," Pudney said. "And bring your wallet,"
Local restaurants hope the launch of Dine Out Boston, a two-week effort to lure diners out with reduced prices across their menus that begins on Sunday, will help spread the word that the city is open for business again. But it's likely to take a lot more than that and the loans the state is offering to repair the economic damage done by this winter.
The Massachusetts Growth Capital Corporation will make up to $1 million in loan funds available to provide micro-loans of $5,000 to $10,000 to small businesses impacted by the harsh winter weather. The program is expected to run through May 2015.
For more information and an application visit www.massgcc.com.
