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Seeing our clients achieve key milestones is what drives our work at BCL of Texas. From startups that have expanded to multi-employee businesses to families buying their first homes, our success all comes down to you.
Just a few weeks in, it’s easy to see the new Counter Cafe location is going to be a hit.
“We have some regulars who come in twice a day,” says owner Debbie Davis. “This is a place where strangers talk to strangers. How many places can you go where that happens?”
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Adrian Paredes, owner of the Austin-based Tamale Addiction, was helped with two loans from the BCL Business Growth Fund. From pork pastor with pineapple and onions to vegan nopalitos and sweet guava tamales, Paredes has been able to learn from his customers and successfully diversify his product to meet new market trends.
Tara Kuntschick had leased space for her beauty salon, Hair It Is, for years. Ready to find a place of her own, she began to work with the loan officers at BCL of Texas to increase her equity injection for a real estate loan. With combined financing from BCL of Texas and her local bank, she was able to purchase a charming new location and increase her services in the community.
One of our early customers, BCL worked with Rudy Ruiz of Community Development Management, Inc. for an SBA 504 loan to help them grow their operations. Founded in 1979, Community Development Management is a consulting firm that works with communities across Central and South Texas for community development projects like public works, housing, disaster relief, parks and recreation, and economic development.
Three new homeowners who worked with BCL through our NeighborhoodLIFT down payment assistance program may be surprised to find themselves neighbors in the same newly built cul-de-sac in Manor.
Ruth and Arnold Guerra were born and raised in Gonzales, Texas, where they have opened hotels, restaurants, and built homes to meet their community’s needs. “We started with nothing,” Ruth said. Now, they have built over 100 homes in their community of 7,000 people.
I visited the Guerras and we drove around the town, as Ruth pointed out both homes she and her husband had worked on, as well as other neighborhoods of older homes in states of disrepair. Gonzales has not had new home construction in a long time. “Big builders are not going to come into this town,” Ruth said. In a previous subdivision, a builder constructed about 5 homes and then left town, the work unfinished. We drove past a 17-home affordable subdivision of 3-bedroom homes the Guerras built in 2009.
Now, they are building Angel Oaks, a 6-home development for median income families, featuring 3-bedroom ranch-style homes with yards. A longtime customer of BCL, having worked with us in the past for an SBA 504 loan, the Guerra family is now working with BCL’s wholly-owned subsidiary, Texas Community Builders for our new pre-development loan product.
The demand for median-priced new housing in Gonzales is apparent, as five of the Angel Oaks homes have already been purchased, just as groundbreaking has barely begun. Most of the buyers are people of color, and all are first-time homeowners. “People are getting out of renting and into their first homes,” Ruth said.
And as with their hotels, their construction business is a family venture. They’ve taught their two daughters skills in construction, management, and project administration. “In the big city, you get a job and you learn one thing,” Ruth said. She said her daughters are now prepared with a wide range of skills to take on all kinds of jobs.
“I’m really glad that Texas Community Builders is investing in small developers,” Ruth said. “I appreciate that they saw that we have projects that will benefit individuals that probably never would have been able to buy a home. Without Texas Community Builders, we would not have been able to do this project.”
KTonic Kombucha emerged from the seed of an idea, germinating around the concept of transforming tea into a fermented beverage. In pursuit of a healthful and functionally balanced drink, KTonic embarked on a journey to create a version of the beverage that maintains a “tea-centric” profile with the lowest sugar content possible.
Shaniqua Ross, a successful accountant, dreamed of breaking free from corporate life and building her own transportation business, Reliable Trusted 4 Transport & Courier Services. Like many aspiring entrepreneurs, she knew the journey would be challenging and that guidance was essential. That’s where BCL of Texas and the power of entrepreneurial coaching came in.
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