Mercantile Capital Corporation is 15 years old . . .

Fifteen years is a pretty long time. Think about this: in 2002, A Beautiful Mind won the Oscar for best picture, Tom Brady and Bill Belichick won their first of five Super Bowls together, and half our company was still in college. It was also the year Mercantile got its start.

We try to tell our story as often as possible because we think it’s important. Mercantile started with an idea to help business owners grow better and smarter. Fifteen years ago, the SBA 504 loan program wasn’t very well-known, and it was shamefully underutilized. We believed it was the best option for small business owners who wanted to buy, build, or renovate their commercial real estate. We recognized that smart commercial real estate ownership is not just the key to helping small businesses create jobs and grow just themselves, but build their communities, as well.

Anyway, when we said we planned to specialize in a single loan product—a government-backed program at that—we got some weird looks. And a lot of pushback. But a handful of individuals believed in us then, and we’re grateful to have partnered with a lot of great people and companies along the way. Fifteen years later, we’re going strong and helping business owners all over the U.S.

Since 2002, we’ve closed 671 loans worth more than $2.025 billion. We’re not done yet because we know there’s always more work to be done, but we’re proud of what we’ve accomplished. We’re proud of the businesses we’ve helped along the way, and we’re looking forward to helping more this year and in the years to come.

While we might just eat cake every day the rest of the year to celebrate our 15th year as the SBA 504 loan experts, we’ll never be too busy to take a look at a commercial real estate project for you and/or someone you know. If we can be helpful, call us at 407-786-5040 or email info@mercantilecc.com and get you the answers you need.

-Your 504 Experts

P.S. Be on the lookout for future emails throughout this year with features on some of the small business owners we have closed loans with and their stories. We don’t easily grow tired of bragging on our clients. They’re pretty wonderful and deserve to have their stories told.