Few businesses seek aid after bridge disaster

Although President Bush was quick to declare the I-35W bridge collapse a federal disaster, clearing the way for low-interest business loans, the government has been hard pressed to find any small businesses to take its money.

To the surprise of some officials, a federal loan program for those that experienced "economic injury" from the collapse has had just eight applications as of Dec. 31. Four of the applicants have been rejected because they could not document an economic loss or show an ability to repay.

Only one business, a restaurant near downtown Minneapolis that opened three weeks before the Aug. 1 collapse, has been given a low-interest loan.

"Not one of our more active disasters of the year," said Carl Sherrill, an official with the federal Small Business Administration (SBA). Sherrill compared the response to a steam pipe explosion in Manhattan in July that left one person dead and raised similar concerns about the nation's aging infrastructure, but likewise led to few applicants for federal small-business loans.

One official in fact said that SBA workers, after establishing an office in downtown Minneapolis and receiving few inquiries, moved to another building closer to the collapsed bridge. "We didn't get any calls on it, and the city of Minneapolis was out beating the bushes" to try to find applicants, said Judy Rue, Hennepin County's deputy emergency preparedness director.

Though the loan program runs through May, and covers eligible businesses in eight metro counties, the results so far contrast with the fears after the collapse. In late August, Gov. Tim Pawlenty asked for federal aid for small businesses, saying there had been "significant economic impact" on local businesses because of the interruption of commerce on the Mississippi River and the rerouting of highway traffic.

An early study by the state Department of Employment and Economic Development predicted that road-user costs because of the collapse would total $400,000 per day and that in addition Minnesota's economy would lose $60 million by the end of 2008. Most of the impact from the collapse, the study said, would be transportation-related but said the average daily net economic impact would amount to a $113,000 reduction in the state's economic output.

Restaurant is sole recipient

The one beneficiary so far has been the owners of Harry's Food and Cocktails, who reopened their Washington Avenue restaurant under the new name on July 10 after previously operating as Nochee's. The restaurant, which sits more than a half-mile from the bridge, boasts a tree-lined patio, fire pit and a chandelier made of Grain Belt Premium beer bottles.

The owners, according to the SBA, received a $131,100 loan in late October, less than three months after the bridge collapse.

Steven Kleitz, the general manager at Harry's, said Monday that while he did not know the details of the loan, the restaurant's early business -- particularly after the collapse -- was "lighter than expected." He said business in recent months had improved, however. As Kleitz sat in the restaurant as the sun set on New Year's Eve, he said he expected a full restaurant that evening.

Under the program, the 4 percent interest loans are "to meet necessary financial obligations, which cannot be met because of the disaster." The maximum loan amount is $1.5 million.

But the lack of loan applicants and recipients does not mean that business hasn't suffered.

Closures, layoffs

Ed Hilbrich, owner of Opposable Thumbs Books on Johnson Street NE, said he will close the store Jan. 31 because the bridge collapse led to a 40 percent decrease in revenue.

"It's just not economically viable," said Hilbrich, who opened the business 18 months ago.

He's not interested in low-interest loans because he can't afford to "do the American thing and pile debt on top of debt." He said attempts to get the city to install signs redirecting traffic to Johnson Street were unsuccessful, even after the mayor toured his store to call attention to the plight of affected businesses.

Rerouting traffic hurts sales

At Santana Foods, a small grocery and deli three blocks from the collapsed bridge, manager Abed Hassuneh also said business was down. But Hassuneh said he did not know whether his brothers, who own the store, had applied for a federal loan. "It was certainly busy" before the collapse, he said. "[Now], I talked to some customers. They say, 'I don't get up here because of the bridge, because of the rerouting.'"

Allen Buresh, the manager of a gas station on University Avenue at the foot of the collapsed bridge, also said he had fewer customers. Though Buresh said he did not know whether the gas station's corporate owners had sought federal aid, he said the rerouting of traffic has made it difficult to get in and out of the station.

"People aren't too crazy about getting out of traffic" to buy gas, he said.

John Gifford, who owns a Dunn Bros. coffee house nearby, said he had applied for an SBA loan but had been turned down. He said federal officials told him they had concerns that Gifford's business could generate enough revenue to repay the loan. "I sort of went back and I said, 'I thought that was the point'" to help struggling businesses, he said. Gifford said he was reapplying for the loan.

Database editor Glenn Howatt and reporter Herón Márquez Estrada contributed to this article.