Local restaurant favorite Laci's Tapas Bar is holding their 7th Annual Laci's Give Back Challenge! The Facebook contest will award the proceeds from Laci's August fundrasier to the non-profit with the most "Likes." 

Please take a moment to click on the link below and "Like" Home HeadQuarters. Every "Like" brings us cloer to helping more local families become first time homeowners in our community! Thank you for your support!

VOTE for Home HeadQuarters!

In her previous job, Laura was a customer sales and service representative, but decided that she wanted to focus her efforts on helping people, especially those that live in Syracuse. She remembers as a child going with her Grandmother to her job at a local non-profit organization and decided that one day, she too would work in the non-profit sector.

Is there anything that surprises her about her new job? "I can't believe the number of loans and grants that go out these doors every day," says Laura. "All the people we help, I didn't really expect or imagine that many."

Lisa Welch doesn't call herself a developer. She prefers to describe herself as someone with a growing appreciation and passion for her urban environment. Lisa, a planner with the Syracuse Zoning office, first met her new project on North Salina Street in Syracuse when she discovered the building was losing another owner who had given up the project.

"The last two owners had completed some renovations, but they weren't complete or fully up to code requirements," said Lisa. "I just decided then and there that I loved the idea of working on this project and jumped in with both feet!"

The building, which had housed a furniture store, a glass shop and antique store, and also housed the various families who ran the stores, needed extensive updates, especially bringing the building up to existing fire code. Lisa applied for and was awarded a National Grid Main Street Grant and also took advantage of Onondaga County's Green Infrastructure Program and State and Federal Tax Credit Programs. She soon found however, most programs reimbursed after project completion and it was difficult to find financing during construction.

"My local banking partner is great, but I also needed additional funding to bridge the reimbursable grant and tax programs.  Banks are not always able to loan money to cover those gaps in timing," said Lisa. "I needed something that could act as a bridge loan until I could get reimbursed from the grant and tax programs."

Lisa was working on the building with a local contractor who regularly performs as a general home improvement contractor with Home HeadQuarters' customers. He told Lisa to call and find out if HHQ had launched their new commercial lending efforts because he thought it would be perfect--especially for a project like hers.

Lisa Welch is now the inaugural customer of Home HeadQuarters commecial lending program, and neither party can figure out who is more excited. Lisa is hard at work making renovations, seeking tenants for the upper floors and a retail component for the first floor while trying to discover who keeps dumping tires behind her building. Home HeadQuarters staff is working to roll out the program to an already-growing list of new and existing businesses.

"We need to attract people to our city to keep it viable and I'd like to think that I'm doing my part in giving back and helping to sustain our community," said Lisa. "I also think Home HeadQuarters is the most positive group of people I've worked with so far on this project, I think you guys are as excited about this project as I am."

For more information on commercial or investor financing, please contact Johanna Anderson at (315) 474-1939 or [email protected].