Businesses destroyed in the Mount Airy Main Street fire will get state loans to help them reopen in time for the crucial Christmas shopping season.
The state Department of Housing and Community Development said it would offer the seven businesses low- or no-interest loans to cover up to 65 percent of expenses for inventory and construction so temporary quarters can open in the next three weeks.
“The state came up with very creative and very equitable funding,” said Dalia Schulman, head of the Mount Airy Main Street Association. “They sort of stretched the rules as far as they could.”
If the small businesses do not reopen by Nov. 1, they will miss the Christmas shopping season and may never return, Schulman said.
The five businesses need about $70,000 to reopen in temporary, portable buildings along Main Street, the town said.
BB&T Bank also offered the businesses three-month loans at below market rates.
Meanwhile, business owners expressed surprise that all $50,000 donated to the Mount Airy Disaster Relief Fund will go to five families displaced from their apartments in the fire, not to businesses.
The owners said they believed they would benefit from the fund as well.
“I appreciate what you?re doing, but when my neighbor gives $500 to help me, I want to know where that money is going,” said Earl Weisman, founder of Matrix Solutions, an electronics store destroyed in the fire. “If the people know what?s going on, you wouldn?t have these problems. It?s the lack of communication.”
The fund would provide grants to businesses, but owners first need to approach organizers of the fund and show a need for money, said Frank Iliano, a consultant who helps run the fund.
“I can assure you this money is very wisely spent,” he said.
