| Patriot Express Loan program is off to a hot start, SBA says
Just five months after launching a loan program to benefit the military community and veterans, officials with the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) say the numbers look good. More than 500 small business loans have been awarded to date through the SBA's Patriot Express Loan Initiative nationwide. According to the San Antonio office of the SBA, 14 loans were awarded locally since the program's inception -- totaling $1.428 million. The average loan amount, according to Linda Olinick, spokeswoman with the local SBA office, was $102,050. Correction:An earlier version of this story contained incorrect information regarding the percentage rates on Patriot Express loans. .
Business Notes
A seminar aimed at giving owners of small and medium-sized businesses a jump-start on the new year takes place Tuesday Sponsored by the accounting and management firm VonLehman & Co., the free breakfast session takes its cue from late night TV and offers "Tonight's Top 10 List of 10 Ways to Make Your Company Better." Firm representatives Andy VonLehman and Thomas Ruberg have prepared their "Top 10" list to help business leaders with strategic planning, provide topics for a management retreat or create a "to-do" list for next year. The session takes place from 7:30-9:15 a.m. at the Queen City Club, 331 E. Fourth Street. Reservations are required. .
DJs shopping for $85m redevelopments
DEPARTMENT store group David Jones will spend $85 million redeveloping its two major stores in central Melbourne as part of a push to increase sales across the Victorian capital by $300 million. The cost of the overhaul, which will increase floor space by 30 per cent across the sites on opposite sides of Melbourne's Bourke Street mall, will be partly offset by the $50 million sale of DJs' smaller homewares store in Little Bourke Street. DJs sold the site to a consortium comprising the Commonwealth Bank's CFS Retail Property Trust and Singaporean property investor GIC Real Estate, which will fold it into their redevelopment of the adjoining Myer site on Lonsdale Street, which they acquired in July as part of a $605 million purchase of Myer Melbourne CBD stores.
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