Factory Gets Loan Under New Program
The new owners of a Pacoima shutters factory are the first entrepreneurs in that community to receive funding under a new government-sponsored loan program targeted at areas hard-hit by the North American Free Trade Agreement.
Brothers Bruce and Randy Landsberger secured $306,000 in funding earlier this week to complete their purchase of Sequoia Shutters. The company employs 31 people.
The financing, obtained from the Bank of Hollywood, is guaranteed by the Small Business Administration under the agency’s new Community Adjustment and Investment Program. The $20-million program, which was unveiled in January, is aimed at spurring economic development in 47 U.S. communities that have lost a substantial number of jobs to Mexico since NAFTA’s passage in 1993.
Sequoia Shutters is located just across the street from giant faucet manufacturer Price Pfister Inc., which laid off 500 workers after shifting much of its production to Mexicali, Mexico.
“I’ve seen trucks lined up over there for months, loading stuff for Mexico,” said Bruce Landsberger, president of Sequoia. “ But we’re planning on expanding here. I’m very high on the future of Pacoima.”
Landsberger said he plans on hiring about a dozen new workers over the next year, exceeding CAIP requirements that the firm hire a minimum of one new employee for each $35,000 borrowed.
Pacoima earlier this year was named a federal empowerment zone, making businesses located in the San Fernando Valley community eligible for tax credits for each employee hired from within the zone.
