Bridgeway in Action!
The Bridgeway in Action! series presents our impact through the lens of our clients while highlighting the tools and the Bridgeway team members who supported them along their business growth journey.
For today’s spotlight, we chatted with Bridgeway’s director of the Uniontown office, Reid Smith, about the versatility of Bridge Loans and how this loan product helped the Etna Community Organization redevelop a historic building into a mixed-use community center, with a community library, neighborhood gathering place, and affordable housing.
Four Questions with Reid Smith
As the director of the Uniontown office, Reid manages Bridgeway’s lending in the postindustrial towns and rural areas of southwestern Pennsylvania and northern West Virginia. Reid uses his expertise to build meaningful relationships with customers to help them access financing to grow businesses and revitalize communities. Here’s how Reid worked with the Etna Community Organization on a bridge loan to support the Etna Center for Community.
What made the Etna Center for Community project such a good fit for Bridgeway?
The Borough of Etna and the Etna Community Organization have been working to improve the quality of life for borough residents. This project, the Etna Center for Community, does just that: it brings a library, multipurpose rooms that residents can reserve for their use, and four affordable housing units all together under one roof. For Bridgeway, this type of community-focused redevelopment is fully aligned with our mission to support economic revitalization in low- and moderate-income census tracts. By design, it creates a space that will help this neighborhood thrive.
What kind of financing options are available to clients like the Etna Community Organization?
A bridge loan was a good option for the Etna Community Organization, because they had received a Redevelopment Assistance Capital Program (RACP) grant from the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. RACP grants are reimbursement-based, meaning recipients must first incur and pay for eligible project costs and then submit documentation to the state for reimbursement. That can create a significant cash-flow challenge for organizations that do not have sufficient capital available upfront.
In situations like theirs, Bridgeway can provide financing to bridge that gap — a bridge loan. We provide the upfront capital that is needed to move the project forward. And because receiving that reimbursement from the state can take some time, bridge loan borrowers pay interest only. At the end of the loan term, those reimbursed state funds pay off the principal. This structure significantly improves borrowers’ cash flow.
When a project has a remaining financing gap after the grant proceeds are received, Bridgeway may also provide permanent financing. That was not necessary in this case, but it is another financing tool we offer.
This loan in particular had several unique features, like the RACP compliance steps. How did you work with the client’s parameters?
First, we structured the loan with a draw period, allowing the Etna Community Organization to access funds as needed to pay contractors as work progressed. That limits the amount of interest the borrower pays because they are only paying interest on funds they have actually drawn.
We also built in an interest-only period after construction was completed. The RACP program requires state documentation reviews and other compliance steps before final reimbursement can occur, and that process can take time. The interest-only period gives them additional flexibility during that window and eases cash flow pressure. Then, the principal is repaid with the reimbursed grant from the Commonwealth at loan maturity.
What makes financing through Bridgeway an attractive option for projects like this?
Not every financial institution is comfortable financing RACP-supported projects because of the reimbursement structure, compliance requirements, and timing involved. Bridgeway has experience with these projects and understands how to structure financing around those realities.
We also understand why these projects matter. When the Commonwealth makes an RACP award, it is investing in projects expected to generate broader economic and community benefits. This aligns closely with Bridgeway’s mission and the types of projects we want to support.
More broadly, our goal is to build relationships with clients and serve as a resource throughout the financing process — not simply to provide a loan. We want to understand what the project needs, help the borrower navigate the financing process, and structure capital in a way that allows the project to succeed.
Featured Client:
Etna Community Organization’s Megan Tuñón outside the soon-to-open Etna Center for Community
Learn More
Read our article Creating a Place for Community to Gather and Thrive to learn more about the Etna Center for Community.
Bridgeway Capital works with developers and nonprofits to build spaces that serve communities. Reach out today to see how Bridgeway can help advance your project.