Which Lake Forest, Lake Bluff Businesses Received PPP Loans?

LAKE FOREST, IL — The U.S. Treasury Department and Small Business Administration issued a list of businesses that received approval for more a half-trillion dollars in loans as part of the federal Paycheck Protection Program created as part of the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security, or CARES, Act. Recipients in Lake Forest and Lake Bluff include private schools, car dealers and landscaping companies.

Among the nearly 5 million PPP loans approved in April, there were 72 businesses based in Lake Forest and 62 in Lake Bluff set to receive federal loans greater than $150,000. Those local businesses retained a combined total of 6,013 jobs as a result of the loans, according to data provided by the federal agencies.

After initially refusing to disclose the data, the agencies relented following lawsuits from media organizations and provided the names of all businesses that borrowed more than $150,000, accounting for about three quarters of the money distributed.

“Today’s release of loan data strikes the appropriate balance of providing the American people with transparency, while protecting sensitive payroll and personal income information of small businesses, sole proprietors, and independent contractors,” Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin said Monday in a statement.

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The program was established to offer forgivable loans to small businesses to cover the cost of continuing to keeping workers on the payroll. That has preserved more than 50 million jobs that would otherwise have been eliminated during the COVID-19 pandemic, according to the Small Business Administration, or SBA.

SBA Administrator Jovita Carranza said the data shows that all types of small businesses benefited from the unprecedented economic relief program.

“The PPP is an indisputable success for small businesses, especially to the communities in which these employers serve as the main job creators,” Carranza said in a release. “In three months, this Administration was able to act quickly to get funding into the hands of those who faced enormous obstacles as a result of the pandemic.”

Mnuchin said the program has provided support to more than 80 percent of all small business in the country.

“We are particularly pleased that 27 percent of the program’s reach in low and moderate income communities which is in proportion to percentage of population in these areas," he said. " The average loan size is approximately $100,000, demonstrating that the program is serving the smallest of businesses."

Find below a map showing different colors for different loan sizes followed by a list of Lake Forest and Lake Bluff businesses that approved to receive at least $1 million each.

The largest sum received by any Lake Forest or Lake Bluff business was a $5 million to $10 million forgivable loan to Peter Baker & Son, a road construction company based on Rockland Road. The federal data does not indicate company representatives specified how many jobs the money would support in their loan application paperwork.

Eleven local businesses received loans of more than $2 million but less than $5 million:

Thirteen more Lake Forest and Lake Bluff businesses received loans between $1 million and $2 million:

The release includes business names, addresses, business type, limited demographic data, names of lender, jobs retained and loan amount ranges. The first local business to receive approval for a PPP loan was Peter Baker & Sons on April 3.

Map updated with additional data