Burlington Companies Got Over $153 Million In Federal PPP Loans

BURLINGTON, MA — Companies in Burlington got $153.7 million in loan approvals under the federal Paycheck Protection Program, according to data released Tuesday by the Small Business Administration.

The loans went to 761 companies and ranged from just $416 to nearly $8 million. Applicants said the loans would help them protect 9,367 jobs in Burlington.

Neighboring Woburn got even more, with $290 million going to 1363 businesses.

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 Burlington 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 Burlington, the loans went to:

• Avid Technology, a multimedia company, which received $7.8 million.
• EnviroBusiness, a consulting firm, which got $5.2 million and said it would protect 450 jobs
• Cafe Escadrille, which received $887 thousand to protect 100 jobs
• St. Malachy Church, which got $41,200
• Scrub-a-dog, which got $752
• 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.