When Antonio Neacsu had the opportunity to purchase Lehigh Valley Tennis Club in Allentown, PA, he knew where to turn for financing. He says, “I worked with Pursuit and my loan officer, Ashley Heaton, when I purchased my first club in 2022. The experience was excellent, so I didn’t even have to think about where to go for financing the second time around.”
Here’s how Antonio secured another SBA 504 loan to purchase the Lehigh Valley location, expanding his tennis-club holdings with the goal of offering high-quality tennis lessons and programs for children and adults in the Allentown area.
Leveraging the SBA 504 to grow business
Antonio grew up playing tennis, first in Romania, where he was born and lived until he and his family relocated to the U.S. when he was eighteen years old.
“My mother loved tennis and instilled that love in my brother and me,” he explains. “I played competitively for years, then started teaching.” Over time, coaching evolved into a full-fledged tennis program, Firefly Tennis. It started with 24 children and grew to over 400 through after-school programs and summer camps. But, there was an ongoing operational challenge.
“I operated out of rented facilities and schools and I realized that to make the most of the program, I needed my own facility,” Antonio explains. “When I found one, fortunately, a bank that I’d worked with recommended Pursuit.”
That led to his first SBA 504 purchase, Hopewell Tennis and Swim Center in Hopewell, NJ, in 2022. He adds, “Ashley and Pursuit made the whole process really easy, which is why I went back for a second SBA 504 loan to purchase the Lehigh Valley Tennis Club.”
The SBA 504 was an easy choice
The SBA 504 loan is an excellent loan program for small business owners who want to purchase commercial real estate for their businesses. SBA 504 loans, which are made in partnership with a bank, only require a down-payment of 10-15%, compared to conventional commercial loans, which typically require 30-40%. Among the many additional advantages are generous loan amounts – from $50,000 to $5.5 million for the SBA 504 portion of the loan – and terms up to 25 years, which makes repayment more affordable.
“Since I’d been through the SBA 504 process, I knew what to expect and I had a lot of the documentation ready,” Antonio says. “And I had a trusted team in Ashley and Pursuit.”
Antonio closed on the Lehigh Valley Tennis Club in July 2025.
“It’s incredibly rewarding to help passionate business owners expand their vision,” says Ashley, Antonio’s loan officer. “By using the SBA 504 loan program, we were able to secure long-term, below-market financing that allowed Antonio to purchase a second tennis facility and continue growing his impact in the community. Antonio is an absolute pleasure to work with — organized, cooperative, and proactive throughout the process. Partnerships like this make the lending experience smooth, productive, and deeply fulfilling.”
Between both locations, Antonio has about 25 year-round employees and brings in almost 100 more for the summer camps. As he moves forward, he’s continuing to make improvements throughout Lehigh Valley’s six-court, four-acre facility. He also plans to expand the Firefly Tennis Summer Camp program there.
“It’s amazing to see where we’ve been and how our programs have grown – and owning these facilities has been essential to that,” he says, “because now we have stability in terms of locations and operating costs that we didn’t have when we were leasing.”
Pursuit can help your business grow with SBA 504 loans and more
“If I didn’t have lending partners that I trusted, I would have waited until I could buy another facility with savings, which may have meant missing out on Lehigh Valley,” Antonio says. “But when you have great partners, like Pursuit and Ashley, and a terrific program like the SBA 504 loan, that makes everything smooth and easy.”
Pursuit is a leading small business lender serving businesses across New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Connecticut, Nevada, Illinois, and Washington. We offer loans and a line of credit for working capital, commercial real estate, equipment, and much more. We’ve helped thousands of small business owners get the funding they need to achieve their goals, and we can help you, too.