BENNINGTON — The Bennington Select Board recently approved a $30,000 loan to the Jamaican restaurant Island Flavor LLC to fund commercial kitchen equipment at their new location.
Island Flavor has moved from 512 Main St. to their new location at 1001 Main Street, the former Bakkerij Krijnen. The new location has not yet opened.
The town revolving loan program was established with leftover Housing and Urban Development grant funds in the 1970s. For this reason, the fund focuses on the HUD goals of job creation, eliminating blight downtown and rehabilitating and creating affordable housing, Bennington Community Development Director Shannon Barsotti said in email on Monday.
According to the town website, Bennington “created the revolving loan program to encourage business and job growth within the community, particularly in our designated downtown. The program was designed to aid in the rehabilitation of historic downtown structures, and in the expansion, construction, and equipment needs for local businesses that were finding it difficult to acquire the necessary funding through the bank.”
Bennington also has a Housing Rehabilitation Loan Program to “ensure quality living conditions, maintain or improve housing infrastructure, and guarantee safe, decent, and sanitary housing conditions for low- and moderate-income residents in Bennington,” according to the town website.
These loans are $25,000 per housing unit.
“The loan fund is currently about $300,000 and includes both types of loans,” Barsotti wrote on Monday.
"Small business loans amounts vary based on the availability of loan funds, the scale of the project, and its importance to downtown,” she added. “The Select board reviews business loan applications in executive session and then votes to approve loans in a public meeting.”
After two public complaints, the town in 2023 revised its rules to make the process of approving the loans more transparent.
The Select Board unanimously approved the Island Flavor loan at the Jan. 22 regular board meeting. The loan terms by policy are those for a business outside the designated downtown: a fixed rate of 50 percent of the prime interest rate plus two points not to exceed 7 percent. It is to be repaid over a 10-year term at a 6.25 interest rate.
According to a Nov. 29 property transfer listing on the town clerk’s website, the former bakery at 1001 Main St. was sold by the Krijnen Family Revocable Trust to George and Joan Gilpin for $290,000.
Anique Gilpin, who operates the family businesses with her mother, Joan Gilpin, could not be reached for comment on Monday.
According to the town website, “the Bennington Office of Community Development provides oversight of the municipality’s efforts related to the advancement of the Bennington community in the areas of public health, recreation, the arts, housing, and economic vitality.”