Early last year, Bryan Kirk and Dj Johnston, investment sales brokers in the Manhattan office of Matthews Real Estate Investment Services asked Brian Brady to speak with the owners of Kokomo Carribean Restaurant. Kokomo was leasing the retail space for a mixed-use property, they just listed, in the thriving Williamsburg section of Brooklyn. Kokomo was the best buyer for this property and the owners' story was compelling.
The Caribbean-inspired spot in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, opened in July 2020 — four months after COVID lockdowns started and the owners second child was born. The two had worked in the restaurant business previously: Ria Graham had experience in marketing and sales for another Caribbean restaurant and her husband Kevol is a a chef. Neither of them had opened their own restaurant before, and the timing, well, couldn’t have been worse.
“We had invested our life savings and also enlisted our parents to invest in this venture. It was a huge bet on ourselves,” Ria told Forbes. “Adding the pressure of COVID-19 took it to another level.”
Moreover, nobody in their family had experience owning commercial real estate but did have experience in accounting an owning business. Ria's mother is from Trinidad and had a successful career in accounting in the US. Her father hails from Grenada and owned and sold several businesses in New York.
Most commercial loans require a 25-30% equity injection but because Kokomo was leasing more than 50.1 % of the Gross Leasable Area, Brady saw this as a perfect SBA 504 loan opportunity; Kokomo could possibly secure a loan to acquire the property with as little as 10% down payment.
While their opening, during COVID restrictions, was rocky, the owners and their families banded together, got creative, and found ways to operate profitably. When the restrictions on restaurants were lifted by New York City, their business took off. That perseverance and savvy business operation made them a likely candidate for SBA financing.
Brady flew up to New York in June of 2024 and met with the Kokomo ownership group. He coached them on what would be needed to secure SBA financing, explained how paperwork intensive an SBA oan could be and that, while the process could take months, if they did not give up, would own the property by the end of the year.
"I approach SBA loans differently from most brokers." Brady said. "The loan is driven by the CDC approval. Once secured, the lender selection comes down to the best terms because the guesswork is removed"