3 Cities Receive $9 Million in Loans for Economic Development Projects

Three cities in southeastern Los Angeles County were awarded nearly $9 million in federal loans Wednesday to fund economic development projects designed to help local businesses, provide homes for poor families, and offer recreation for children and senior citizens.

City officials from South Gate, Maywood and Huntington Park applied for the loans last spring.

“Urban development in the past was focused almost exclusively on the central city,” Assistant Housing and Urban Development Secretary Andrew Cuomo said in announcing the loans. “We’re trying to broaden that vision. The concept is that the region is either going to make it or not make it together.”

Cuomo said the loans are to be paid back over 20 years.

South Gate will receive a $5-million loan to help Sergio Llovio, the owner of a Ford dealership, to move from his half-acre lot to a 4.5-acre site and build a showroom and auto repair facility.

Llovio said he could keep his Ford franchise only if he expanded, but that he could not afford to take on the debt associated with a regular bank loan.

“Without this money, I would’ve had to leave my business,” said Llovio, who has been on the lot for five years.

The expansion will allow him to keep 39 employees and create 61 jobs, he said.

Maywood will receive $2 million to build a 30,000-square-foot recreation center in its city park.

The planned center, with an exercise and weight room, stage, and other facilities, would replace a smaller one on the site.

City officials say the total cost will be about $3.3 million, but have already won a $700,000 state grant for the project and are applying for more money to cover the full cost.

Demolition of the existing center is expected in two months, and city officials said they expect the new facility to open next summer.

“Our children and our community have been deprived of . . . having a facility to play,” Councilwoman Dorothy Ramirez said.

With a 1.1-square-mile area and 30,000 residents, Maywood is the densest city in California. It has received three other federal redevelopment loans that were used for commercial projects.

Huntington Park will receive a $1.8-million loan to purchase a 1.5-acre lot where it hopes to develop homes for poor families.

A daily rate hotel is on the site, city officials said, and plans call for razing it to make room for nine to 12 homes.