SBA Raises Santa Ana Office to District Level

The Small Business Administration announced Monday that it has upgraded its Santa Ana branch office to district office status to better meet the demand for services in Orange, Riverside and San Bernardino counties.

The SBA is also opening an office in Ventura to serve businesses in Santa Barbara and Ventura counties, according to Thomas Topuzes, SBA regional administrator.

About 20% of the nation’s SBA loans are made in the region covering California, Nevada, Hawaii and the Pacific Islands, according to SBA Administrator James Abdnor.

Regional loan volume reached an all-time record of $572 million for the fiscal year ended Sept. 30. That amount represented 2,918 loans backed by SBA guarantees, Abdnor said. The SBA does very little direct lending, instead it guarantees loans made by banks and other lenders.

Sandy Sutton, the SBA’s business development officer in Santa Ana, said the change will not have a dramatic effect on the agency’s activity in Orange County.

“We will be more in direct line in a number of channels,” Sutton said. “We’ll have closer contact with our regional procurement office. They assist people trying to get government contracts. It won’t change the loan program in Orange County.”

Sutton said the changes will have greater effect in San Bernardino and Riverside counties, areas where the agency is trying to increase its small business loan guarantees.

“This is more a recognition of the growth, not only of Orange County,” she said, “but also of the Inland Empire.”

By early 1989, the Santa Ana office, at 901 W. Civic Center Drive, will have a staff of 29. The office approved 1,912 loans last year, according to Topuzes. He said the new district, which stretches east to the California border and north to Death Valley, will be better able to serve Riverside and San Bernardino counties.

Plans also call for the Los Angeles district office to move from the World Trade Center in downtown Los Angeles to Glendale in early 1989, Topuzes said. He said the SBA will keep a representative at the Los Angeles Area Chamber of Commerce office near downtown. He said downtown parking and access problems prompted the move to Glendale.

Times staff writer Maria L. La Ganga in Orange County contributed to this report.