Residents celebrate Tech Center opening in Great Falls

For 90-year-old Alta Haugse, walking into the Johnson Hotel is like taking a stroll down memory lane.

By BETH BRITTON
Tribune Business Editor

Seventy-one years ago she worked as a hairdresser on the balcony of the hotel; on Thursday evening she was one of a few dozen people who attended the grand opening of the Downtown Tech Center.

Located on the third floor of the Johnson Hotel, 417 Central Ave., the Tech Center is home to the University of Great Falls’ Business Technology Center and several businesses, thanks to a $558,000 federal grant, funds from various businesses and a contribution from Haugse.

"I knew the people that built this hotel," Haugse said "I just wanted to help Great Falls develop if I could. This is wonderful."

Her contribution was used in part to buy furniture and equipment — the essentials needed to get the center up and running, said Deb Kottel, University of Great Falls’ Dean of Graduate Studies and the director of the UGF business incubator.

"It takes a community to raise a business, and here’s this woman who just felt an obligation to the community," Kottel said.

The Downtown Technology Center features an infrastructure of high-speed Internet access, security, data storage, backup generation and a multimedia center.

The university’s business incubator provides startup businesses with a location where they can get their business off the ground without investing in equipment such as copy machines and fax machines.

The university also provides student interns who receive hands-on experience in marketing, database management and graphic design.

"The data center was a big thing. That’s the big draw," said Teresa Ormseth of Shortgrass Web Development, the first business that moved into the incubator in September 2002. The data center features high-speed Internet access, security and backup generation.

Ormseth said the supportive services, reduced rent, interns and equipment are all the little things that add up to make starting a small business a little easier.

Her husband, Doug, is the former director of the Business Improvement District and helped get the Tech Center idea started years ago.

"Incubators help small businesses make it through the first couple of lean years," she said. "Our time is better spent at developing our core business, the things we do well."

Today, the Tech Center is full, something Kottel said verifies what she thought the community needed — a space that is supportive of business.

Other tenants include Touch America; Made in Montana Catalog, a Web portal offering Montana producers an online marketing tool; Exergy Development, a wind energy group; Cooperative Advertising of Great Falls; and International Malting Co., which opened a temporary office in the center as it prepares to begin construction of a malting facility in the Electric City.

The Great Falls Business Improvement District, the University of Great Falls, iConnect and Vision Net were the hosts for the event, which included tours and presentations.

For information, call 791-5339 or 727-5430.

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