COVID-19 impacted many businesses, forcing most to permanently close their doors. Despite the economic and social crises of the pandemic, Rodney Burchfield, Managing Partner of Burchfield & Partners persevered through the challenges his company faced to successfully break ground on their largest project in 2022. Thanks, in part, to the financial assistance and support provided by BCL of Texas. Burchfield & Partners, a commercial real estate development and consulting firm in Dallas, TX, started at a time when the commercial real estate industry was trending downward. Yet for them, successes kept coming. In 2018, the Dallas City Council approved their largest project, a Corporate Aviation Facility at Dallas Executive Airport in Southern Dallas. Burchfield & Partners was at a peak in their development plans for this project, but they quickly changed due to the pandemic causing the project to be put on hold. Rodney Burchfield remarks, “We were securing the financing for the project and finalizing the aviation facility’s final tenant, then the pandemic hit.” Their equity partners decided to shelve the project to observe the unprecedented economy. As the norm for businesses in 2020-2021, the capital the company had on hand started to run thin, which led them to BCL. “I sought out BCL because things were starting to get low for us. In November 2021, we got approved for a $55,000 loan. It allowed us to continue operations and cover expenses for architect fees, civil engineering fees and our third-party reports. It helped me to not fold, and really tread water during tthat difficult time.”

As the Managing Partner, Rodney admired that BCL did not view him as “just another client” and was committed to creating a relationship with him. “Building a relationship directly with BCL’s CEO, Rosa Rios Valdez made me excited to share my vision and passions with her. I saw there was more for me to do in this industry and community. Our relationship was the start to partner with BCL for our lending needs and other future opportunities.” And BCL was able to do just that when they stepped in and helped Burchfield & Partners in the last quarter of 2021 - after the company achieved their milestones, but their partners were not ready to move on their commitment. Successfully, Burchfield & Partners broke ground on the Corporate Aviation Maintenance Facility at Dallas Executive Airport on November 8th, 2022, and are projected to complete construction by January 2024. As a minority-owned business in the aviation field, Rodney hopes the Southern Dallas community can find inspiration through his story - to be persistent in chasing their success. “I hope the community gets the opportunity to meet me and see representation, someone of color they can resonate with. I hope they learn my personal story of perseverance and hard work and become inspired to learn about aviation. Aerospace and aviation are an industry where minorities are rarely seen in professional roles. I hope that when a child sees the airplanes, they can get a sense of awareness and a spark of curiosity to learn about the different professions in this industry, such as aircraft mechanics or pilots. I want to contribute to exposing our youth to that.”