For small business owners, owning a building or office/industrial condo offers a number of advantages, including tax benefits, more predictable facility costs, a stable location for company operations and the opportunity for long term real estate appreciation.

Companies leasing a facility are often subject to rent increases and may find themselves faced with a costly move and possible loss of business in the event of a lease expiring, change in ownership or other such occurrence beyond the control of the tenant. For many business owners, ownership of a building or office/industrial condo can also be an effective means of creating a significant nest egg for retirement.

The U.S. Small Business Administration's 504 Loan Program enables business owners to purchase or build a facility and thereby take advantage of the many benefits of building ownership. Unlike most conventional bank financing, the SBA 504 program offers up to 90% financing together with attractive long term fixed rates.

The SBA 504 Loan Program involves a partnership between a bank and a Certified Development Company (CDC). The typical financing structure for a project involves a 50% first deed of trust loan from the lender, 40% second deed of trust 504 loan from the SBA/CDC and 10% down from the owner.

The SBA 504 loan is fully amortized over 20 years and incorporates a below market fixed interest rate. Advantages of the SBA 504 Loan Program include preservation of working capital made possible by a lower down payment, as well as attractive long term fixed rates. SBA 504 interest rates continue to be at all time historical lows.

The SBA 504 Loan Program has enjoyed great success with business owners across the U.S. and in particular in California over the last twenty years. Last year, even as the credit crisis was impacting many sectors of banking, SBA 504 loan program continued to fund over $250 million monthly on a national basis.

Typical SBA 504 Financing Structure

The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (aka Stimulus Bill) offers additional incentives for small business owners utilizing the SBA 504 Loan Program.

Business owners are encouraged to explore the benefits of the SBA 504 Loan Program by contacting California Statewide CDC or other local CDCs through the GAVEA office. California Statewide CDC and other CDC are licensed by the U.S. Small Business Administration to assist small business enterprises with long term financing for the purchase of owner-user commercial/industrial real estate under the SBA 504 Loan Program.

MANUFACTURE YOUR WIND OR SOLAR ENERGY EQUIPMENT IN "CALIFORNIA'S RENEWABLE ENERGY CAPITAL"

By the year 2020, California must produce 33 percent of its electricity from renewable sources, including solar and wind, nearly a tenfold increase in today's capacity. That mandate has spurred rapid and unprecedented growth in California's green energy industries as companies look to provide clean, renewable energy for California's more than 38 million residents.

The State of California not only has the most aggressive renewable energy target in the United States, but it also ranks as the tenth largest consumer of energy in the world, just behind the entire country of France. This combination makes California an ideal location for renewable energy manufacturers. For this reason and many others, the Greater Antelope Valley, located in Los Angeles and Kern Counties, is well on its way to becoming the cradle for production and manufacturing for Southern California's renewable energy projects.

The Tehachapi Pass, located just two hours north of Los Angeles in Tehachapi-Mojave wind resource area, is one of the world's largest producers of wind-generated electricity. The area boasts of more than 5,000 wind turbines, producing 1.3 terawatt hours each year.

Southern California Edison is constructing a $1.8 billion transmission upgrade that will allow the utility to transport power generated by wind and solar to the Los Angeles Basin by 2013.

With over 20 solar farms in various stages of permitting, additional wind projects underway, substantial markets nearby, an established manufacturing base, the Greater Antelope Valley is an ideal location for manufacturers in "green technology" and the "renewable industry". By manufacturing your product locally, you will have access to this emerging market and is one of a few areas in California that can boast of its comparative "Low Cost of Doing Business".

The Greater Antelope Valley continues to raise the bar for technological and innovative and skilled workforce. It is the same spirit, in conjunction with its friendly geographic location for solar and wind production, that we believe such companies as eSolar, Next Light, Mission Energy International, BlueFire, to name a few, have made the Antelope Valley their destination of choice.

Carrying on the tradition of innovation and cities friendly to business, Palmdale continues to work on the approval application to build a 570-megawatt hybrid power plant; and, Lancaster continues to work with DayStar Farms on the world's first mater planned Solar Park.

www.windsolarcalifornia.com
www.aveconomy.org