Update

The Board of Directors and the General Manager of Troy Community Food Cooperative (TCFC) are excited to communicate promising news regarding the financing and timeline of Troy’s future community owned, full-service grocery store, The Pioneer Market.

Financing
Opening TCFC is a $2.3 million project. The Board had initially negotiated the primary financing at 7% interest. In March, however, the Board entered into negotiation with another primary lender for a much better interest rate on the primary loan (under 3% for the first seven years), which the new lender is able to offer TCFC because they will receive New Market Tax Credits from the U.S. Government in exchange for making low interest loans to community projects. This new finance opportunity made the cash flow of the project viable in such a positive way that we felt it our responsibility to renegotiate with the new lender. This process has taken five months, and therefore, delayed our timeline. We anticipate hearing from the primary lender by the end of September to finalize the primary financing.

Time-line
Asbestos abatement of the Pioneer Market will be completed by the end of September. Once our financing is approved there will be a three month construction period followed by another month needed to set up the store and train the staff. Then TCFC will open its doors to member-owners and the public.

Grants and Fundraising
As we reported in June, we have raised over $200,000 in charitable grants. Included in this sum, in May TCFC was awarded a $25,000 grant from an anonymous local foundation, and this past month, the Howard & Bush Foundation exceeded our original expectation awarding TCFC a grant for $50,000. Not included in the $200,000 is a $50,000 grant application pending the final stages of approval with National Grid. We hope to have more good news in the near future as we continue to aggressively pursue grant opportunities. The Board and Management of TCFC are pleased and, moreover, extremely grateful for the continued outpouring of support for our community-owned project.

Owner-loans
Integral to our financing package are loans from our member-owners. In September TCFC will be kicking-off an exciting owner-loan campaign. Owner-loans are a common way for food cooperatives to raise money for start-up and expansion projects. These loans offer members-owners favorable interest rates that are low interest loans for TCFC paid back over a reasonable period of time. Loans from member-owners will give TCFC enough cash flow to operate the store. TCFC promises not to spend any owner-loan money before securing the primary financing. TCFC already has secured several owner-loans including a $25,000 loan from the same anonymous local foundation that awarded us the $25,000 grant. We will be contacting you with more information shortly.

You will hear reports soon updating you on building issues and regarding our ongoing new-member campaign. Please consider emailing all your local contacts and asking them to become shareholders. Please feel free to contact us for any further information. We are excited to bring this community project to you.