Woburn Companies Got $290 Million In Federal Coronavirus Loans

WOBURN, MA — Companies in Woburn got nearly $290 million in loan approvals under the federal Paycheck Protection Program, according to data released Tuesday by the Small Business Administration.

The loans went to 1,363 companies and ranged from just $1,000 to $10 million. Applicants said the loans would help them protect 18,507 jobs in the city.

Woburn was second only to Boston's financial district in loans received in one zip code.

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: Woburn Businesses Second Only To Boston In MA PPP Funding

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 Woburn, the loans went to:

• Next Step Healthcare LLC, the nursing and rehab facility provider, which received $10 million and said it would protect 500 jobs
• Next Step MA Master Subtenant LLC, which received another $6 million
• The Dolben Company, a property management company, which received 5.6 million to protect 430 jobs
• Ginger Root of Woburn, which received $18,310
• Montvale Autocare, which received $5,200
• 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.