POST FALLS - Don't look now, but one of Kootenai County's largest economic success stories of the recession on fast track could have had a hiccup had financing not been finalized recently after construction was three months under way.

Ron Nilson, CEO of Ground Force Worldwide, said he is breathing easier now that the combined $6.5 million loan through Community 1st Bank in Post Falls and Western Capital Bank in Boise has been approved.

It's a guarantee construction on the company's 72,000-square foot manufacturing facility will proceed on time toward its planned April 1 opening.

"Build it and they will come, including the financing," said Nilson, tongue-in-cheek. "When the steel started to arrive (without the loan in place), it got a little dicey. We were less than 30 days away from needing the money now or not having work.

"But I slept every night."

Nilson said he tied up all of his personal assets on the project and signed the contracts on faith that everything would line up.

"Everything I own was invested in this project and on the line," he said.

The financing spoke volumes, he said, about a relationship between a community bank and a local business on fast-track expansion to meet a rising demand to manufacture mining equipment and provide an additional 150 jobs to spur the area's economy.

Without that collaboration and trust, Nilson said, the project would have been delayed or taken on a different turn.

"It's about our faith and relationship with a community bank and faith that our orders will keep coming faster than we can produce," he said.

Jerry Lyon, president and chief operating officer at Community 1st Bank, said it's the largest loan the 4-year-old bank has made and went beyond the bank's lending capability for a single business. That's why it tapped Western Capital on the project, another community bank in Idaho that Community 1st has a relationship with.

"It was a great opportunity for us to pull capital from another part of the state here to create local jobs," Lyon said. "Typically their funding goes toward larger metro areas, but it was our desire to bring a loan of this size to Kootenai County.

"Small community banks don't get the opportunity often to compete for projects of this magnitude."

Lyon said Nilson's reputation in the community was key in getting the loan approved as soon as possible.

"When you bring a lot of different entities to the table, the complexity of it requires a tremendous amount of collaboration," he said.

Lyon said oftentimes national institutions win large projects, but in this case two locally-owned banks in Idaho teamed up on the financing.

Lyon said the loan is also evidence that the myth of the banking industry's lack of desire to lend money to businesses during the recession isn't true. As an industry as a whole, they've just gotten more careful, which is a good thing, he said.

Other terms of the Ground Force loan, including the breakdown between the two banks, were not disclosed.

Nilson said the project drew four loan bids.

"We've been blessed to have a personal relationship with the management team of Community 1st and give them an opportunity on this," Nilson said. "We were hoping they'd win the project of this size. It's important for us to support our local loaning institutions."

The project earlier received an Idaho Community Development Block Grant for $495,000 to help fund infrastructure for the plant between Post Falls and Coeur d'Alene after the site was annexed into Post Falls. The facility is across Seltice Way from Ground Force's other plant that employs 150.

The new facility is accepting applications for painters, fitters, welders and assemblers at its existing plant. The wage for skilled and trained workers starts at $30,000 per year.