County Loan Helps Cambridge Potter Open Shop

March 15, 2007
Joanne Haas, Office of the County Executive (608) 267-8823 or cell (608) 669-5606
County Executive

A Cambridge potter will open a retail stoneware shop and employ about 12 workers thanks to a nearly $120,000 business loan from Dane County’s Community Block Grant Fund. “This loan will mean Cambridge gets another downtown business operated by a local resident who also expects to create 12 jobs,” Dane County Executive Kathleen Falk said. “Plus, the business plan calls for using technology to eliminate many of the environmental impacts of salt-glazed pottery.” The $119,450 loan from Dane County will be a 10-year term at 6 percent interest rate with a one-point loan fee of $1,194. The loan will go to Jim Rowe, the former owner of Rowe Pottery Works Inc. Rowe will use the loan to open Stoneware Studios, LLC, in a Cambridge he owns -- 217 W. Main St. Rowe’s application was deemed eligible for Dane County’s Economic Revolving Loan Fund and the Commercial Revitalization Loan Fund. The revolving loan fund makes loans to viable businesses in the county that create jobs, and the revitalization fund provides financing for projects that create jobs and improve older commercial districts. Both funds are available for businesses outside the City of Madison. For more information about the County’s loan programs, contact Steve Steinhoff, Community Development Coordinator, at (608) 266-4270. # # #