Businesses get millions in federal aid
List shows more than 40K got PPP loans in Florida
Central Florida businesses ranging from Hawkers Asian Street Fare to companies affiliated with billionaire Joe Lewis’ Tavistock Group received millions of dollars in forgivable federal loans to help companies pay workers rather than furlough or fire them during the coronavirus pandemic.
The Department of the Treasury and the Small Business Administration released for the first time this week a list of the businesses that received between $150,000 and $10 million in Paycheck Protection Program loans, commonly called PPP. That list, which the Trump administration initially refused to disclose, includes more than 40,000 loans to Florida businesses like mom-andpop eateries, doctors offices, salons, private schools and churches, as well as large law firms and restaurant chains.
Orlando-based Hawkers Asian Street Fare received about $3 million and used it to keep 500 employees, including people who work at its nine restaurants as well as 25 corporate staffers, said CEO Kaleb Harrell.
The company began using the loan for payroll on April 9 and ran out of the funds last week. The restaurant chain, which has locations across Florida as well as in Atlanta and North Carolina, spends about $15 million a year on payroll, according to Harrell.
”It did its job,” he said Tuesday. “It saved people’s jobs. It saved us from having to be forced to do layoffs.”
Large loans also went to some of Florida’s richest business owners.
Three Florida offices affiliated with prominent law firm Morgan & Morgan received at least $9 million from the program. Firm founder John Morgan, who helped pay for a ballot initiative to make medical marijuana legal in Florida, could not be reached for comment Tuesday.
GrayRobinson, the legal and lobbying firm now led by former Florida House Speaker Dean Cannon, received between $5 million and $10 million. The list provided by SBA only gives dollar ranges for the loans, not exact amounts.
Cannon said in a statement that the money was used to help the firm through an uncertain economy brought by COVID-19.
“We used the loan for payroll and other eligible expenses under
the Paycheck Protection Program,” Cannon said. “The funds have made a positive difference, and have helped enable us to avoid laying off a single employee.”
Several restaurant companies affiliated with Lake Nona developer Tavistock Group received a total of at least $7.6 million. The private investment firm founded by billionaire Lewis also owns the exclusive Isleworth Golf & Country Club and was the beneficiary of millions of dollars in state and local government incentive packages to lure a now-defunct branch of a biotech firm and other organizations to its Lake Nona project in southeast Orlando.
“Our restaurants across the US have been significantly impacted by the pandemic,” Tavistock Group vice president Jessi Blakley said in an email. “Some did receive funds, which is helping the restaurants weather these uncertain economic times.”
Personal injury attorney Dan Newlin, known for his ubiquitous billboards boasting of cash payouts for his clients, received between $2 million and $5 million. Newlin could not be reached for comment.
Other Central Florida recipients include Orlandobased Rosen Hotels and Resorts and the Dr. Phillips Center for the Performing Arts. Rosen and two affiliated entities received more than $6 million. The Dr. Phillips Center received between $1 million and $2 million, the SBA records show.
Since the program was approved in March, a mix of mom-and-pop and large, publicly traded companies rushed to claim the loans. Some borrowed through multiple corporate entities to avoid the $10 million cap. The loans will be forgiven if the funds are used for payroll costs, interest on mortgages, rent, and utilities.
Other businesses on the list are smaller restaurant companies, private schools and even churches.
Maitland-based Tijuana Flats received between $5 million to $10 million but declined to specify how much the company had received or how it planned to spend the money.
“As a privately held business, we do not share financial information about our company,” Tijuana Flats CEO Brian Wright said in a statement. “However, our industry has been shaken to its core by this global health crisis and we are grateful to have qualified for federal assistance which has enabled us to keep employees working as we continue to meet daily unprecedented challenges.”
A number of churches and religious organizations were on the list, as well as private schools.
Rollins College, which said in May it was eliminating 8% of its workforce and implementing pay cuts for many other employees, received $1.1 million for the Alfond Inn, which is owned by the Winter Park school. The Alfond’s occupancy dropped as low as 10% during the pandemic, said Jo Marie Hebeler, a spokeswoman for the college. Additionally, the inn had to halt food and beverage operations temporarily and several corporate and social groups canceled their reservations there. The school plans to use its PPP money for payroll, benefits and utilities, she said.
Orlando’s Bishop Moore Catholic High School received roughly $2 million to pay employee salaries and utilities during the pandemic, spokeswoman Jennifer Drow said. The school, which enrolls about 1,400 students, switched to online instruction and ministry services mid-year.
“When Governor DeSantis signed the stay-at-home order in early April, he also made clear that educational and ministerial services were essential,” Drow wrote in an email. “Therefore, the ministry of the Catholic Church and its schools have remained constant during this time.”
Lake Highland Preparatory School, which served nearly 2,000 students last year, also received between $2 million and $5 million in federal dollars. That amount covered the school’s payroll for two and a half months, said Danielle Jimenez, a spokeswoman for Lake Highland, though she did not specify exactly how much the Orlando campus had received. The school did not have to lay off any employees, she added.
“With payroll covered, we were able to divert operating funds to support a swift change to distance learning, freeze tuition rates for the upcoming school year, and enhance the safety of our students returning to campus in the summer,” Jimenez wrote in an email.
And The Master’s Academy, where about 1,000 students were enrolled last year, was allotted between $1 million and $2 million. It wasn’t the only form of public funding for the Oviedo campus, where the handbook says gay students and employees are unwelcome. The school also received more than $1.3 million in state scholarships, often called vouchers, during the past academic year. School leaders couldn’t be reached for comment on Tuesday.
The names of businesses that received less than $150,000, the bulk of the loans given through PPP, were not disclosed on the list.