NORTH PORT — The Gene Matthews Boys & Girls club in North Port secured a vital loan for its new building as the project nears construction later this year.
The old building was already showing its age, and then on Sept. 28, 2022, it was destroyed by Hurricane Ian.
A new 14,000-square-foot building will rise in the damaged venue’s place. It will feature learning rooms, game rooms, a teen center and a state-of-the-art kitchen facility and food pantry, according to Bill Sadlo, the president and CEO of the Boys & Girls Club of Sarasota and DeSoto Counties.
“We are excited for this project, but there is more work to be done,” he said at a groundbreaking on March 13.
Some of that work which still needed to be done was additional funding.
The likes of Steven and Marjolaine Townsend, Jaime and Julie DiDomenico, the Gulf Coast Community Foundation, the Atlanta Braves Foundation, and the family of the late Gene Matthews, for whom the club is named, helped raise millions of dollars, which got the ball rolling and ground broken.
“Without the new facility, the Boys & Girls Club has had to suspend enrollment, currently serving only a fraction of the 250 children it once helped,” a Shumaker Lawfirm press release stated.
Shumaker helped to secure a “complex” loan for the Boys & Girls Club, funded through the “New Markets Tax Credit Program.”
According to Shumaker staff, the program was adopted by Congress in 2000. It was designed to incentivize investments in underserved areas by providing tax credits to investors.
Investors can then make below-market rate loans to qualified organizations, such as The Boys & Girls Club.
According to Shumaker staff, by obtaining the loan, the North Port location is now “on track” to start construction.
“This was an incredibly complex process, but we knew we had to get it done as quickly as possible due to the Boys & Girls Club’s impact on our community,” Mike Pitchford, a partner of Shumaker, who was instrumental in securing the loan said.
“It was a very satisfying feeling to get it done finally,” he said. “It’s a great loan for them. I’m glad to be a small part of this.”
Pitchford revealed that due to the complexity of the loan, review and approval was needed from three different law firms. They were in Boston, St. Louis, and Chicago.
“We are beyond thrilled to know that we are getting closer to moving forward with the construction of the new Boys & Girls Club, which is a cornerstone of the North Port community,” Sadlo said.
“Our heartfelt thanks go to the many donors in our community and the dedicated team at Shumaker for their unwavering commitment to a project that holds immense significance for our children,” he said.
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