Federal stimulus bond funding for new facilities, renovations and expansions in Cape Coral are still available through the City of Cape Coral’s Recovery Zone Bond fund program. Due to a recent upsurge in requests for information on these bonds, the city has extended the deadline to June 15 for applications to be submitted.
The advantage to this bond program comes in the form of reduced interest rates with a longer loan payback period. Businesses would use their own lenders, but tap into the lower rate using a tax exempt bond mechanism. The city’s role is to confirm that the proposed facility, renovation or expansion project is an economic benefit to the city and is geographically located within Cape Coral.
“This is a good program for large capital projects, but it’s not meant for small borrowers,” said Business Development Coordinator Christy Vogt in a prepared statement. “Funding requests must be for at least $1 million to participate and whoever submits an application should be working with a lender who is willing to help fund the proposed project. We hope that an expanding enterprise will take advantage of this opportunity to save money and to help boost our local economy.”
Interest for the Recovery Zone bonds is approximately two points less than for taxable bonds, and the term of bond financing is typically 20 to 30 years versus 10 to 20 years for a commercial note. Cape Coral has been allocated a maximum of $23,069,000 for Recovery Zone Financing Bonds. Funding requests must be for $1 million or more to participate. Bond applicants should be credit worthy and have the backing of a bank or financial institution.

Source: City of Cape Coral
Interested companies must submit a letter of interest to the City’s Economic Development Office by June 15. The city will work directly with the business to help them through the application process. The bonds need to be issued before Jan. 1, 2011.
For more information, contact the City of Cape Coral Business Development Coordinator, Christy Vogt, at 574-0434.