Betting on downtown Great Falls, Business owners take a chance, invest in future

Alison Fried doesn’t have a degree in business, but you’d never gather that from her accomplishments.

By BETH BRITTON
Tribune Business Editor

The 29-year-old entrepreneur operates one of the largest specialty stores in the state and also is one of the newest building owners in downtown Great Falls. Fried closed on the Woolworth Building on the southeast corner of Central Avenue and 5th Street last week.

Her businesses — Dragonfly Dry Goods and Baby Dragonfly — share the first floor of the building with the 5th Street Diner. Fried is just one of a growing number of creative, energetic business owners willing to bet their futures on downtown.

Fried, who earned a bachelor’s degree in psychology from the University of Great Falls, is bullish on downtown’s future, and for good reason.

Slowly but surely, downtown Great Falls is moving in a new direction — with upgraded facades, new businesses, new owners who are investing the time and money to bring their buildings back to their former glory and, according to some, a new attitude.

"We have a really good thing going. It’s the whole ambiance — it’s so inviting," Fried said of the shopping area that today features a growing number of specialty stores that have replaced the large department stores of the past.

"This won’t just be great for me, but for everybody," she said of her recently expanded store. "I’m making an investment in downtown, and I’m hoping stores like Dragonfly will give people in Great Falls a reason to come downtown."

Downtown commitment

Fried is one of a growing number of business owners choosing a downtown location.

Great Falls advertising firm Wendt Kochman recently purchased the Suhr Building, 106 1st Ave. S., and is planning to renovate it in the next 18 months.

"It’s a very interesting building, and one of the reasons to stay downtown is that you don’t get something that looks like it came out of a cookie cutter," said President and CEO Carl Kochman. "This offers us an opportunity to make the building unique to us."

Kochman said the firm never seriously considered leaving the downtown area.

"There are lots of things going on downtown; it seems to be coming back, and I’ve always been a downtown fan," he said.

The trend toward more business owners buying their own buildings is something that longtime downtown merchant Rick Enge welcomes.

"It’s nice to see these new stores coming in, and I’m glad more people own their own buildings," said Enge, who has owned World of Time, 405 Central Ave., since 1978. "I own this building, and I feel more anchored."

Like Wendt Kochman, L’Heureux Page Werner PC Architects Engineers is planning a future move to a newly purchased downtown building.

Partner Tim Peterson said the firm, currently leasing space at 15 5th St. S., is buying the Pennington Building, on the northwest corner of 5th Street and Central Avenue.

"As architects, we just love downtown, and we wouldn’t feel comfortable anywhere else," Peterson said. "When we go to other cities, we don’t go to the mall — we go downtown because that’s where the life is. We want this downtown to have life."

Peterson and his partners plan to begin interior and exterior renovations, as well as address some structural repair, this summer. Current tenants will remain, and once the architects move into the second floor space about 18 months down the road, additional tenants will join them, Peterson said.

"It’s a really neat thing to keep these buildings," he added.

Restoring downtown gems

When Karin Striepe, the owner of Motifs for the Home, moved her business to 225 2nd St. S. last year, its new look turned heads. One hundred years after it was built, the former HR Hansen Implement Co. building had been given a new lease on life.

"I wanted this store to be so cool that people couldn’t resist coming in," Striepe said. By moving her store from its former location at 417 Central Ave., she doubled its retail space and gained a large storage area.

Since Striepe practically grew up downtown — her father, Bruce Lund, owned Wood World Furniture — she was convinced that she wanted her business to be there.

"To put yourself and your money out there, it’s a leap of faith to open anywhere," Striepe said. "But being downtown, it gives you more control."

Allowing merchants to set their own hours and create unique, niche stores are two of the best things the area has to offer, and Striepe is a staunch defender of downtown’s virtues.

"There are no down sides to being located downtown," she said. "I’m so tired of negativity. If we could just start talking about the positives. There’s so many good stores and great merchants downtown. The whole downtown thing could be so cool if someone believed in it."

Attracting customers

Business owners like Dragonfly’s Fried know they are dependent on locals to help them make downtown a success. Monday through Friday, downtown is home to about 8,500 workers, but persuading people that downtown is more than simply an employment center remains a challenge.

"We’re only able to do this because there are people in the community who make a commitment to shopping downtown," Fried said. "It’s a commitment from them to say they want a really good downtown."

Vicki Geske, owner of the Teach Me Shop at 514 Central Ave., also is determined to get the message out.

"I just wish we could get more local people to see what we have down here," Geske said. Some of her best customers are from out of town, but the local clientele is slowly building, she added.

Geske, 35, and her husband, Mike, recently bought the former Oxford Hotel and moved her business into the space Nicholl’s Music had occupied for years. Future plans may include renovating the upper floors, which still are home to old bathtubs and hotel fixtures. It’s that history that Geske said she loves.

Geske now leases the west side of her building to Michele and Les Rispens, who opened Cool Beans Coffee Pub last month after extensive renovations of their own.

Renovating an existing building takes time and perseverance. Just ask Bill Stuff of WRS Architecture & Design.

Stuff, who also serves as the chairman for the Great Falls Business Improvement District, bought the former Northern Hotel at 412 Central Ave. and has transformed the facade and first floor into modern office space.

Ultimately, Stuff plans to convert the upper floors of the building, which feature original woodwork, into executive suites. The 40-year-old C.M. Russell High School graduate is committed to downtown.

"If the downtown is successful, usually a whole town is successful. I’m convinced that whatever investment we make we’ll get back," Stuff said. "We just want people thinking differently than they have been."

That is easier said than done, however, especially in the financial arena, which Stuff said was a challenge for his project.

"It was a struggle to get the financial support for it; bankers don’t feel that downtown has come around yet," Stuff said. But a growing number of entrepreneurs are coming around, and Stuff said interest in the area has generated momentum.

"I think more people are looking to invest in downtown. You’re seeing a shift in ownership — absentee owners who are selling to people willing to take risks," Stuff said.

Taking a chance

Risk-taking is the key to downtown’s future success, said businessman Tim Murphy, who owns and maintains several downtown buildings, including the World Wide Press building, the Galleria building and the building on the south side of the 100 block of Central that houses Candy Masterpiece, Baker Bob’s and other businesses.

"What it boils down to is having more risk takers," Murphy said.

There is a handful of innovative business and building owners downtown who are helping the area spring back to life, he said, and he hopes to meet many more people like them.

In addition to specialty retailers and restaurants, downtown Great Falls really needs an influx of attractive housing units to lure the critical mass to that neighborhood, Murphy said.

Murphy said he has worked to make his buildings attractive and functional since he first became involved with downtown property in 1980.

"It’s a labor of love," the Great Falls native said. "If it was pure economics, I wouldn’t be doing it."

Beth Evenson, the owner of Planet Earth at 116 Central Ave., said she is glad that people like Murphy, her landlord, are taking a chance on downtown.

"He is so gung-ho on downtown Great Falls. He’s open to any idea, and he lets you do things differently," said Evenson, 43. "The vibe I get seems to be positive and, I’m happy to say, progressive."

Evenson opened her business in 1994 and moved to her present location in 1996.

"This is the heart of the community, and the architecture is great," she said. "Downtown is full of hope and possibility."

Downtown support

Two downtown organizations, the Great Falls Business Improvement District and the Downtown Great Falls Association, work to revitalize downtown, bring new businesses to the area and support the businesses that already are there. Last year was a banner year, said Greg Madson, executive director of the Great Falls Business Improvement District.

"I really feel like people are starting to value and see downtown differently," he said. "I think there is a renewed interest in buying local, supporting local businesses, and an awareness of where our dollar is spent and how it is reinvested in our community."

In 2002, the BID invested about $43,000 in new businesses and expansions. Pending awards total $34,300 — $16,000 for new businesses and $18,300 for facade grants.

The highlight of the past year, Madson said, was the completion of the Johnson Hotel Technology Center. He said one of the highlights in 2003 will be the implementation of a parking and streetscape enhancement plan on Central Avenue between the Civic Center and 9th Street. The enhancements, including landscaping, angle parking and bike racks, are in the works for this spring and summer.

The city of Great Falls and the BID joined forces with the Downtown Great Falls Association to get the streetscape project on the agenda.

It’s that kind of partnership, said DGFA Director Diane Jovick-Kuntz, that will help boost downtown’s image and get buy-in from potential investors and entrepreneurs.

"Years ago, you got the feeling like you were a dying downtown," added World of Time’s Enge, a DGFA board member. "I don’t get that feeling anymore."

http://www.greatfallstribune.com/news/stories/20030126/localnews/854976.html