Struggling in a downtown whose planned redevelopment stalled in the recession, several bar and restaurant and retail store owners have defaulted on their small commercial loans from the city of Yonkers.
Six of 11 owners receiving loans from the previous administration of Mayor Philip Amicone are in default for approximately $366,000, the city”™s inspector general, Kitley S. Covill, recently reported. And the owner of a South Broadway discount store is delinquent in repaying a $25,000 loan balance.
The largest debtor in default, Body & Soul Essentials Inc., owes approximately $149,964 on a 10-year, $150,000 loan made in 2010 by the city”™s former economic development office. Mayor Mike Spano in 2012 folded that office into the city planning department.
Body & Soul operates the Wholesome Goodness Market at 66 Main St., a 170-unit luxury apartment building that that has drawn young professionals to downtown Yonkers since opening five years ago.
The owner of a fitness center at 66 Main, Retro Fitness Funding Yonkers L.L.C., has kept current on its $300,000 loan, the city”™s largest outstanding commercial loan, according to the inspector general.
Covill noted that that all of the loans were to small businesses “that were starting or maintaining a business in a challenged economic area of the city. As such, the loans were risky and were given to encourage viable small businesses.”
The inspector said the city”™s commercial loan files were incomplete and included “haphazard” communications between city employees and banks and attorneys regarding loan status and litigation. Often loans remained in default with no collection effort for years, she said.
