S&T Bank — which boasts a reputation of building relationships through reliability, performance, and long-standing trust as a community bank — is currently financing a community project with a growing church in Downingtown.

S&T recently partnered with Windsor Baptist Church to finance its expansion. Justin Manning, a Senior Vice President and Commercial Lender at S&T Bank, was given the responsibility of closing the construction loan soon after he joined the bank this year.

“There was a fair amount of legwork to get it to closing when I first arrived,” said Manning. “Our participation in the project was for $2.5 million in construction capital. The church had equity for a good chunk of the project, and the remaining amount is bank-financed. Once they exhaust that equity, the loan will kick in.”

Windsor Baptist Church is located in Upper Uwchlan Township. It is also home to Windsor Christian Preschool, as well as Windsor Christian Academy, which provides exceptional classical education, small class sizes, and a nurturing setting for students in grades K-8. With both the preschool and academy experiencing significant growth, the available church space was filling up, including temporary classrooms in modular units on the campus.

“They are expanding their facility to accommodate growth,” said Manning. “With the number of preschool and academy students, the new construction will provide the academy consolidated and greater space of their own.”

While the new construction will provide room for both schools to continue their growth, the new space will also support expanding ministries, furthering the church’s goal of serving the community.

Similarly, it is a community mindset of doing business that drives S&T and its lending program.

“Our approach to commercial lending is with a community bank focus, and we stand behind our clients,” Manning said. “We may finance some projects that other larger banks won’t have an appetite for — not because they are bad loans or bad projects, but because the projects may not fit the underwriting parameters that are in place at those banks, which are regulated pretty tightly. There are certain things those banks are just not allowed to do.”

Groundbreaking for the new building project was in August, and financing on the $5.4 million project was in place by September. Fundraising continues among the church, alumni, parents, grandparents, and community for a number of post-construction aspects of the new facility.

“The project is a great opportunity for us to do some good in the community,” said Manning. “We provide a lot of financing to for-profit companies, where we are financing equipment and things like that. But this is one of those feel-good types of projects, and we don’t always get to do the things from a financing perspective that fit that bill. It’s a great project for a great organization.”

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