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Baird & Warner, Sterling Bay secured big PPP funds
Statewide, 4K companies received loans of $1M or more through federal program, government data shows
Baird & Warner, Chicago’s oldest residential brokerage, received between $5 million and $10 million from the federal Payroll Protection Program. Developer Sterling Bay, along with Oxford Hotels and Inland Real Estate Investment Corp., each received $1 million or more.
They were among the local real estate-related companies that benefited from the PPP loan program, meant to maintain and bring back jobs, and keep businesses afloat amid Covid-19. The program provides forgivable loans up to $10 million for companies with fewer than 500 employees.
In all, close to 4,000 Illinois businesses secured funding of $1 million or more from the Small Business Administration’s PPP program, according to the Chicago Tribune’s analysis of data the government released Monday. The outlet also detailed the more than 27,000 companies across Illinois that received PPP loans of more than $150,000 each. In all, over 660,000 businesses nationwide each received loans of that amount or more.
The SBA’s figures show that $65 billion in PPP loans went to the hard-hit construction industry, $42 billion went to accommodations and food services — including hotels and restaurants, while another $16 billion went to real estate, rental and leasing.
Chicago-based Baird & Warner, which at the end of March donated $150,000 to local coronavirus relief, was among 255 companies statewide that received between $5 million and $10 million, the Tribune reported. The government data release does not provide specific loan amounts.
Other local organizations like Buona Beef, Eataly, City Winery, Museum of Science and Industry and the Lincoln Park Zoo also received funding, the Tribune reported.
In late March, Oxford Capital Group — parent company of Oxford Hotels — designated 1,100 hotel rooms from five of its Chicago properties for the city’s program to house people who tested positive for Covid-19 or who were exposed to the virus.
The Trump administration’s release of the massive data set follows the government’s July 4 approval of a third phase of applications for the $670 billion in PPP funding. [Tribune] — Alexi Friedman