“Champion Center” To Offer Daycare, Cooking Classes, Recording Studio, Mentoring
Allentown, Pa. – A new community center offering daycare, cooking classes, a recording studio and mentoring for disadvantaged youth in one of Allentown’s inner-city neighborhoods will open this summer thanks to financing arranged by Lehigh Financial Group.
The Champion Center at 143 Linden St. will be housed in the former Casa Guadalupe building, which was purchased Feb. 26 by Carmen and Jesus “Gee” Rendon, who operates the Children At Promise daycare at LifeChurch in East Allentown. The proposed daycare will be an expansion of that program to a new location, offering care for children from infant through Pre-K, Rendon said.
In addition, Rendon and her husband, a pastor at LifeChurch, say they plan to renovate the building and provide cooking classes, a recording studio and a safe haven with mentoring for inner-city youth.
“The community outreach aspect of the program will operate after the daycare is closed for the day. That is one of the provisions of the zoning agreement,” Carmen Rendon said. “We want to target youth and young adults, to build a bridge to reach them. We also plan to offer a self-esteem program for girls to help them cope in today’s society and the urban environment.”
Lewis Edwards of Lehigh Financial Group said his company was able to arrange the $144,000 mortgage for the purchase of the property after several mainstream banks expressed reluctance to consider the project.
“It’s a nice building and she will create some jobs down there,” Edwards said, adding that the opportunity to help create positive growth in a low income, minority neighborhood is one of the aspects that attracted Lehigh Financial to the concept. “It’s a good community project and it will be fantastic for the downtown neighborhoods.”
The Rendons are high-school sweethearts who grew up in Center City – Gee Rendon grew up, literally, in a home right behind the proposed Champion Center and attended Louis E. Dieruff High School while Carmen Rendon attended William Allen High School. Gee Rendon played basketball at Dieruff and later attended a bible college; his wife was a field hockey stand-out who attended Allentown Business School and Bloomsburg University.
“I used to go to the summer programs at Casa Guadalupe (now located on 2nd Street) and it made a difference in my life,” said Gee Rendon. “We both benefitted from mentors in our lives and we want to help make a difference for kids today.”
Carmen Rendon said several of the programs will be done in conjunction with other organizations and agencies.
Both say the purchase could not have happened without the assistance and direction from Lehigh Financial Group, which includes Edwards and founder Jeff Barber. Lehigh Financial helps clients find and arrange financing for loans ranging from $100,000 to $5 million for purchase or refinances all types of properties.
“It was everything. They were critical to our success,” Carmen Rendon said. “The represented us well.”
Barber said that Lehigh Financial specializes in assisting clients at a time when bank financing – especially for commercial lending – is still difficult for many borrowers to arrange. “We can help cut through the red tape and encourage economic development and redevelopment throughout the region,” he said.
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- Photos provided by Lehigh Financial Group For Media Use
Lehigh Financial Group, LLC is a leading source of innovative real estate capital solutions and financing options for commercial customers. The company, based in Allentown, serves the Lehigh Valley region by providing capital for businesses and investors locally, regionally and nationwide. For more information on how Lehigh Financial Group LLC can help your business, please see our website at http://www.lehighfinancialgroup.com.
Information Provided By:
Jeff Barber
Lehigh Financial Group LLC
1244 W. Hamilton St.
Allentown, PA 18102
610-821-6870 Ext. 2
jeffbarber@lehighfinancialgroup.com
http://www.lehighfinancialgroup.com/
