August 20, 2003
The Muskegon Chronicle
By Dave Alexander

As the Lakeshore Launch Pad transitions into the Whetstone Project, the business start-up incubator has cut rental costs with a change of location, allowing more resources to go into programs for member companies.

The Lakeshore Launch Pad -- initiated by Muskegon Area First and the Muskegon Area Chamber of Commerce in late 2001 as a high-technology incubator -- began in the lower level of the Hume Building, 900 Third Street.

Incubators provide cheap, flexible office space to start-up companies and also provide business resources to get a company off the ground.

The incubator initiative has moved from downtown Muskegon to West Sherman Boulevard in Muskegon Heights. Renamed the Whetstone Project, the incubator has moved into a former pizza parlor space in a warehouse-style building that also houses the marketing firm Fluid and other businesses.

The warehouse at 143 W. Sherman will now be called the Whetstone Building, a name originated by Fluid.

"We went with Whetstone ... a tool used to sharpen a knife," said Gary Nelund, director of technology initiatives for Muskegon Area First, an economic development agency. "This business accelerator is a place to sharpen your business."

The move from the Hume Building into Muskegon Heights was prompted by price, Nelund said. The Launch Pad lease with Hume Building owner Westwood Group expired earlier this summer. Lease rates were going to rise because the Muskegon development company had others wanting the small office spaces, he said.

Whereas the Hume Building had small, individual offices, the new Whetstone layout is a 2,500 square-foot open office with up to seven cubical spaces. The Whetstone opens with one tenant, Gold Shield Transportation, a local charter bus company, and three other prospects, Nelund said.

"We are looking for an increase in the interaction of the businesses," Nelund said. "That's the energy we want to capture (in the new space)."

The Whetstone Building and Whetstone Project is having a public open house Thursday from 5-8 p.m.

The rental costs in the new Whetstone space are a quarter to a third less than in original Launch Pad. A small office setup will be in the $350 a month range, officials said.

That kind of cost will allow some of the lease revenues to be plowed back into programming for the start-up businesses, Nelund said. Whetstone works with law firms, accountants, small business development centers and retired executives who are business advisors to help start-up businesses.

Muskegon Area First Executive Director Todd Battle hopes that the Launch Pad's success with companies like Next IT will be repeated. Next IT is a technology firm that began in the Hume Building with two or three employees and ended up in its own offices with a dozen workers.

"We now need to fill the (new) space we have and get start-up companies to begin to use the services," Battle said.

FAXBOX:

* What: Whetstone Project open house.

* When: Thursday, 5-8 p.m.

* Where: The new Whetstone Building, 143 W. Sherman, Muskegon Heights.