SBA Shaker
Partnership Loan
Pooja Patel was working in one of
Ohio’s largest chiropractic practices
in Mansfield when she happened
to attend a Beer Garden at the Van
Aken District with her husband,
Sagar Patel, a psychologist at Shaker
Heights High School.
“It was awesome,” Patel recalls.
“It felt like the kind of community
I wanted to practice in.” Patel
had been restless in her Mansfield
office for some time; after some
soul searching, and talking to
other chiropractors who had the
kind of practice she dreamed of,
she decided to make the move to
Shaker Heights.
She credits the SBA Shaker
Partnership Loan program with
providing the capital she needed to
open her new business, Core Life
Chiropractic, located at 20134 Van
Aken Boulevard in Shaker Plaza (in the
Van Aken District), two years ago.
The SBA Shaker Partnership
Loan is a loan program created
in partnership with Cuyahoga
County and the Small Business
Administration (SBA). It’s available
to small business owners who qualify
for an SBA loan.
“Applicants must work with
a Small Business Development
Center to be recommended for
the program,” explains Englehart.
“You also have to be opening or
expanding in Shaker Heights and
doing tenant improvement work or
adding equipment.”
The City helps to secure the loan
from an SBA approved lender by
contributing up to 15 percent (not to
exceed $50,000 typically) up front.
The City and County’s contribution
is forgivable, though the business
owner must meet certain milestones.
“Basically, the City earns the
money back through income tax
income revenue produced by the
business,” says Englehart. This
process typically takes 3-5 years.
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“It felt like the kind of
community I wanted
to practice in”
The program has been tremendously successful in drawing businesses
to Shaker Heights, especially to the Van Aken District. “Since 2014, we’ve
made 12 loans, which have created 94 full-time jobs and 145 part-time
jobs,” says Englehart. In addition to Core Life, recipients have included
Spice for Life, Nature’s Oasis, Master Marr’s Taekwon Do, Around the Table
Yarns, Banter, and Luster, among others.
“For someone like me who didn’t have anything coming into it, the
Partnership Loan program made the difference,” says Patel.
Today, Core Life is a busy, successful practice and Patel has been so
happy in Shaker that she and her husband recently purchased a house in
the City.
“Being in Shaker, I just knew I belonged here,” says Patel.
Learn more about Core Life Chiropractic, which treats patients ages
newborn and up, at corelifechiro.com.
/WWW.SHAKER.LIFE
/corelifechiro.com
