WHICH FIRMS GOT BIGGEST PANDEMIC LOANS?
In Hampton Roads, 17 got $5M - $10M under federal program
A federal loan program intended to help small businesses as they struggled to survive and pay their employees amid the COVID-19 pandemic brought millions of dollars to large or wellknown Hampton Roads companies.
They were among 16,173 businesses across Virginia to receive a Paycheck Protection Program loan worth at least $150,000, according to data released Monday by the U.S. Department of Treasury and U.S. Small Business Administration. In Hampton Roads, more than 2,500 loans were approved for that amount and above. The 1%-interest loans have the potential to be entirely forgiven. Many receiving at least $1 million include notable area law firms, developers, property managers, health care providers, auto dealers and military contractors.
According to the database, the largest loans, worth $5 million to $10 million, were obtained by just 17 businesses in Hampton Roads:
■ Bayview Physician Services in Chesapeake
■ BurgerBusters Inc. in Virginia Beach
■ Clark Nexsen Inc. in Virginia Beach
■ Colonna’s Shipyard Inc. in Norfolk
■ Divurgent LLC in Virginia Beach
■ EVMS Academic Physicians and Surgeons Health Services Foundation in Norfolk
■ ICI Services Corp. in Virginia Beach
■ LGS Management Group Inc. in Virginia Beach
■ Lombart Brothers Inc. (now known as Lombart Instrument) in Norfolk
■ MHI Hospitality TRS LLC in Williamsburg
■ PBMares LLP in Newport News
■ Tecnico Corp. in Chesapeake
■ Tidewater Physicians Multispecialty
Group Inc. in Newport News
■ Virginia Oncology Associates in Norfolk
■ W.M. Jordan Company Inc. in Newport News
■ Warwick Plumbing and Heating Corp. (now known as Warwick Mechanical Group) in Newport News
■ Zel Technologies LLC in Hampton
It was March 25 when Gov. Ralph Northam, like other gover
nors, banned elective surgeries to preserve space and equipment in hospitals as the pandemic took hold.
For Bayview Physician Services in Chesapeake, that meant a slowing business coming to a complete halt overnight for more than 300 workers in its groups, including physicians, surgeons and nurses.
CEO Jim Hartz said the PPP loan and a line of credit helped bridge payroll costs and other eligible expenses when there was no other revenue coming in, and they were able to ramp up a new telehealth system. Within a week, via virtual medical visits, they were back up to about 60% of their usual outpatient visit traffic.
He said the loan was particularly timely and necessary to help with cash flow as they had to quickly and completely change their business operations, to account for the safer-athome rules.
“It was a safety net bridge that definitely helped,” he said.
While the provider group has typically grown 10% each year, that won’t be happening in 2020, Hartz said, and he doesn’t expect a return to normal business until, perhaps, the second quarter of next year.
John R. Lawson II, executive chairman of the construction firm W.M. Jordan Co., said the loan his company received was worth a little more than $5 million.
“We have a very big payroll,” he said. “And that’s what it’s for.”
He said it helped the company keep its employees despite delays in projects affected by the pandemic, including job sites closed for multiple days to sanitize. The sites that were able to remain active weren’t as productive, he said, making costs rise.
“We would have had to lay off people” without the loan, Lawson said. “In some cases, we may have even had to delay projects.” He noted that the company hadn’t reduced anyone’s pay or benefits, either, and had retained more than 300 people.
The company has also been hiring.
He said the company has seen one or two contracts canceled entirely because of the pandemic’s effects.
“I think the program has helped the economy incur less damage than it would have otherwise,” he said.
As of June 30, the federal government had approved nearly 4.9 million loans worth $521.5 billion through banks as part of a massive relief package amid the COVID-19 pandemic.
The first phase of funding ran out within days and the program has been criticized for allowing large enterprises that might have had the wherewithal to find funding elsewhere — including large restaurant chains and publicly-traded companies — to get approval for loans.
Among local recipients was BurgerBusters Inc., one of the largest franchisees of Taco Bell locations in the country with 140 locations spread out across five states, according to a career site discussing the company. In 2016, that company received a $118.2 million loan to refinance its debt. Company officials did not return a call and email seeking comment Monday.
With the release of the data Monday, the federal agencies cheered the program.
“The PPP is an indisputable success for small businesses, especially to the communities in which these employers serve as the main job creators,” said SBA Administrator Jovita Carranza, in a statement after releasing the data. Treasury Secretary Steven T. Mnuchin, in the same statement, said the program provided “much-needed relief to millions of American small businesses, supporting more than 51 million jobs and over 80% of all small business employees, who are the drivers of economic growth in our country.”