Bradenton Opens New Red Tide Recovery Center For Businesses

MANATEE COUNTY, FL -- Manatee County government and the U.S. Small Business Administration announced that an SBA Business Recovery Center today moves to the City of Bradenton Beach's Tingley Memorial Library to help business owners affected by September red tide bloom.

The temporary SBA Center will operate weekdays from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. and Saturdays, 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. until further notice. No appointments are necessary. The library is located at 111 Second St., North Bradenton Beach.

An SBA representative will be on hand to provide information about disaster loans, answer questions and assist businesses in completing the SBA application. The county’s economic development team and local partners, such as the Manatee Chamber of Commerce, the Bradenton Area EDC and the SBDC, will also be on hand to provide information and resources to received state of Florida assistance and to help businesses document financial losses at Floridadisaster.biz.

"The Business Recovery Center has served over 134 local business so far and the SBA has received 25 completed applications as of last week.," said Karen Stewart, Manatee County economic development official. "The total dollar amount approved from the SBA and the state of Florida Bridge Loan is approximately $897,000 to date."

To receive additional disaster assistance information, visit SBA’s website. Applicants may also call SBA’s Customer Service Center at (800) 659-2955 or email disastercustomerservice@sba.gov for more information.

Individuals who are deaf or hard of hearing may call (800) 877-8339.

Completed applications should be mailed to U.S. Small Business Administration, Processing and Disbursement Center, 14925 Kingsport Road, Fort Worth, TX 76155.

For additional information pertaining to the SBA Business Recovery Center or the Florida SBDC Small Business Emergency Bridge Loan Program, call (941) 749-3029.

For more information, visit the Manatee County website or call (941) 748-4501.

Photo by Matt Marriott Photography

(For more local news from Florida, click here to sign up for real-time news alerts and newsletters from Patch. If you have an iPhone, click here to get the free Patch iPhone app; download the free Patch Android app here.)