Andover Companies Got $126 Million In Federal Coronavirus Loans

ANDOVER, MA — Companies in Andover received over $126 million in loan approvals under the federal Paycheck Protection Program, according to data released Tuesday by the Small Business Administration.

The loans went to 723 companies and ranged from just $405 to $10 million. Applicants said the loans would help them protect 6,948 jobs in Andover.

The data released this week includes all loans under the program passed in March as the coronavirus pandemic took hold and forced widespread business closures and layoffs. SBA released some loan data in July, but that data only showed loans over $150,000 and did not include specific dollar amounts.

The Washington Post, Bloomberg and other media companies sued the SBA to release the full data set. In November, a federal judge ruled in favor of the media companies and ordered the SBA to release the data by Dec. 1. The data released Tuesday was current as of Nov. 24 and includes updates to the data released in July.

Previously on Patch: These Andover Businesses Got PPP Loans Over $150K

PPP loans are part of the CARES Act, a comprehensive COVID-19 relief package Congress passed in the spring. The loans are forgivable as long as a certain percentage is used for payroll. The program stopped taking new applications in August, but business groups are pressuring federal lawmakers and the Trump administration to renew the program.

In Andover, the loans went to:

• Agri-Mark, the dairy cooperative behind Cabot. Received $10 million to protect 500 jobs.
• The Pike School, which got $1.7 million
• The Chateau Restaurant, which got $664 thousand.
• Salon Forza, which got $107 thousand.
• Vil's Cleaning, which got $5,417.
• Hundreds more.

Statewide, there were nearly 118,000 loans totaling $14.27 billion. In their loan applications, the companies that received the loans said they would help protect 1.17 million jobs in Massachusetts.

Christopher Huffaker can be reached at 412-265-8353 or chris.huffaker@patch.com.