Fusion Gymnastics buys and renovates building in Brownsburg with SBA 504 financing from Huntington Bank and Indiana Statewide CDC

Heather Stevens has been involved with gymnastics most of her life: as a student, competitor and teacher. Seven years ago, she added "business owner" to her list of gymnastics-related experiences. Stevens owns Fusion Gymnastics in Brownsburg, where she and her staff teach and coach gymnastics to students from 18 months to 18 years old. Stevens started Fusion Gymnastics in 2005, using leased facilities in Brownsburg to grow the business. Classes and practices for competitive teams pushed Fusion Gymnastics to find more space. Stevens wanted to stay in Brownsburg and preferably own a building. She bought and renovated a building at 582 Pitt Avenue. At 16,000 square feet, it is 60 percent larger than Stevens' original location. Financing for the Fusion Gymnastics was recently completed as Huntington Bank and the Indiana Statewide Certified Development Corporation provided a loan from the U.S. Small Business Administration 504 program for expanding small businesses. Extensive renovations converted the vacant building to a modern gymnastics studio. Fusion Gymnastics' new home includes larger and handicapped accessible bathrooms and installation of equipment specific to gymnastics such as an inground foam pit and three inground trampolines. Stevens says, "We offer recreation classes, competitive teams. birthday parties, special needs classes, karate and open gym." About ten people are employed as instructors at Fusion Gymnastics. Indiana Statewide CDC works with local lenders to provide SBA 504 loans to owners of expanding companies. Congress created the SBA 504 program so owners of small businesses could get long-term, fixed rate financing with lower down payments similar to financing commercially available for large companies. Since 1986, SBA 504 loans have funded over $62 billion to over 130,000 small businesses. In turn, those small firms have created or retained over 2.1 million jobs for the U.S. economy. Executive Director Jean Wojtowicz says that the Indiana Statewide CDC has invested more than$415 million in 955 Indiana companies since 1983, creating or saving 26,500 jobs. Indiana Statewide CDC is the leading SBA 504 lender in Indiana. Matthew Bitar of Huntington Bank says, "The SBA 504 financing allowed Heather to get into her own building rather than rent. She has put so much into it that the building is significantly better now than before she bought it. She's got a great facility and outstanding loan terms." Stevens says, "I love being my own boss, the challenge of running a business and being around people. The SBA 504 loan is also perfect for our needs."