Which Highland Park, Highwood Businesses Are Getting PPP Loans?

HIGHLAND PARK, 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.

Among the nearly 5 million PPP loans approved in April, there were 89 businesses based in Highland Park and nine in Highwood set to receive federal loans greater than $150,000. Those local businesses retained a total of 3,434 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 Highland Park and Highwood businesses that approved to receive at least $1 million each.

The largest sum any Highland Park business received was a $2 million to $5 million forgivable loan to Semersky Enterprises, which does business as Chicagoland Auto Exchange and operates a luxury car dealership on Skokie Valley Road. Company representatives reported the loan would preserve 250 jobs.

Nine Highland Park businesses were cleared for loans of more than $1 million but less than $2 million:

Skokie Valley Laundry & Cleaners was the lone Highwood company to receive approval for a loan of more than $350,000.

The release includes business names, addresses, business type, limited demographic data, names of lender, jobs retained and loan amount ranges. The first Highland Park businesses began receiving approval for loans on April 4.