It’s a month into 2010 and a couple of New Jersey savings banks and local credit unions are helping real estate investors in the New York metro area secure much needed financing for commercial real estate. Robert Familant, CEO and treasurer of Progressive Credit Union, which has assets of over $500 million, said that credit unions are increasingly venturing into the business loan market, primarily secured by real property. In 2009, Progressive participated in financing the first dormitory for a private developer less than two blocks from the Brooklyn College; the construction of a condominium on Park Avenue in Manhattan and a number of Brooklyn gasoline stations. New York state credit unions are active and willing to provide financing, yet they are limited to the amount of financing they can provide due to government regulations. Lobbyists for credit unions are pressing Washington to lift the lending cap for commercial business. Credit unions now can only lend 12.5 percent of their assets to businesses. They are lobbying Congress to lift the cap to 25 percent of assets. Short Hills, NJ-based Investors Savings Bank is now providing lending for commercial real estate in the tri-state region. The bank, in business since 1926, has over $8.0 billion in assets and a network of over 58 branches in the Garden State. [more]

There is no place like New York City for national and international retailers and a few such food and coffee chains are seizing opportunities to set up shop in the New York metropolitan area.

Texas Buffalo chicken wing franchise Wingstop, which has sold nearly two billion wings, plans to open its first New York restaurant in the spring of 2010, in Astoria or Forest Hills, Queens. The company seeks to open a minimum of 25 locations in the five boroughs as well as restaurants in Fort Lee, Newark, New Brunswick and Trenton, NJ. The 15-year-old company, which has more than 600 restaurants existing or under development in 32 states, has more than 70 restaurants planned for the Northeast. [more]