Plans for Live Oak Bank’s small business center, Channel, progress

Plans are on track for Live Oak Bank to open an inclusive small business center in downtown Wilmington next year.

Bank officials said in May that Live Oak leased 5,000 square feet at 106 Market St., above the restaurant Seabird, for the center, which has been dubbed “Channel.”

A sign for Channel has been installed on the building, an historical structure that’s also occupied by kitchen industry manufacturer Kesseböhmer USA Inc.

No other details about Channel were available as of Tuesday, but more information about the center is expected to be released early next year, said Claire Parker, Live Oak Bank spokeswoman.

Channel is being led by Live Oak employees Chakema Clinton-Quintana, inclusive small business manager, and Jamar Jenkins, inclusive small business specialist.

The center could help provide various capital solutions, “which could be microloans, SBA loans; there’s various grant programs,” said Huntley Garriott, president of Live Oak Bank, in an interview in May.

He also said that a focus of the center would be to overlay “access to capital with the various resources that are available for underserved small businesses.”