‘Up-Rooting’ to Farragut: company moves local
Three Roots Capital is moving to Farragut.
Grady Vanderhoofven, president and CEO, said the business hopes to move from its current site at 10426 Jackson Oaks Way, near Christian Brothers Automotive off Kingston Pike, to a new building at 12640 Kingston Pike, located beside Way Station Trail and across the street from SouthEast Bank near Renaissance | Farragut late this week.
“The goal is to be in there on Aug. 17,” Vanderhoofven said. “We’re very happy (with the move),” he added. “It’s a great space.
“We will be able to grow there for a while. I think it’s likely we will eventually outgrow that space, but I think that will be a very comfortable, productive space for us to be in for a number of years.”
Vanderhoofven said he is relocating the company because it needed more room.
“We’ve grown, and the space we were in was excellent — our landlord was excellent — but we just outgrew the space,” he said.
“We have a great relationship with SouthEast Bank,” Vanderhoofven added. “They are a great partner and an organization that has a sincere interest in having a positive impact on the community, and we’re going to be located right there next to them.
“We like this part of town (Farragut),” adding the new location will be closer to his home in Lenoir City and that of his staff.
Three Roots Capital, a finance company started by Vanderhoofven in 2016, provides debt and equity financing to small and new businesses serving companies in East Tennessee and in the surrounding region.
“The three roots of Three Roots Capital are access to capital, access to expertise and access to connections or networks,” he said. “Our belief is that those three roots feed young companies, small companies and, in some cases, projects and helps them be successful.
“We provide capital, connections and expertise to companies and projects,” Vanderhoofven added. “We provide financing — primarily debt, which is loans. We have a focus on companies and projects that are located in low-income, rural areas.
“We provide mentoring, counseling, coaching and advisory services to young companies, and in some cases, sophisticated business owners and successful businesses that just need a little extra knowledge or support in a particular area, like fundraising.”
Vanderhoofven clarified Three Roots Capital is not a bank — rather it works with banks.
“Banks are partners of ours,” he said. “In fact, SouthEast Bank is one of our most valued partners. We’ve been working with them for a couple of years.”
Three Roots Capital has different underwriting criteria than a bank and it is not a consumer lender, he said.
And, Vanderhoofven said, “We have a focus on community development financing.
“We are a business lender — entrepreneurs and projects,” he added. “So, we don’t compete with banks at all. We complement banks.
Three Roots Capital is certified as a Community Development Financial Institution with the acronym, CDFI.
“We’re certified by the U.S. Treasury Department,” Vanderhoofven said.
“We have to focus our lending activity in low- and moderate-income areas.”
However, banks, which are regulated entities, are required to have Community Reinvestment Act credit, so they are required to invest in their communities, he said.
“One of the ways a bank can get CRA credit is by working with a CDFI,” such as Three Roots Capital, Vanderhoofven said. “So, we actually help banks.”
Three Roots Capital will be open from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m., Monday through Friday; but he noted unlike a bank, it is not a walk-in.
For more information, call 865-385-3994.
