Sandi Boucher knows she has a pretty good gig.
The general manager of the fledgling Thunder Bay Centre of Change gets a daily dose of inspiration from the 30 entrepreneurs under her roof.
“It's the most positive place to work. They're innovative and all excited about their futures and the chance of being in this building.”
The former Hillcrest High School in the city's north end has been transformed into a for-profit business incubator for startup companies.
As soon as Boucher was handed the keys Aug. 12, prospective tenants began calling for tours and to book space in the 142,000-square-foot building.
With the official grand opening scheduled for mid-November, the building was 80 per cent occupied by the end of October.
Much of that was accomplished with limited publicity, mostly in the form of a portable sign out front.
Starting at $5 per square foot, tenants can rent a classroom as is. Aside from new paint on the walls and fibre optic wiring, there have been minimal renovations.
Prominent local developer Robert Zanette is the property owner and silent partner. Boucher, who is the public face behind the incubator, calls Zanette a “visionary” and “very action oriented” who believes in doing things differently.
They met while serving on a local committee formed to deal with the housing crisis for Aboriginals and the impoverished.
The group was searching for a building to serve as a one-stop shop with a nurse practitioner clinic, a food and clothing depot, and addiction services. The former high school was sitting empty since it was closed in 2009 by the Lakehead District School Board.
Built in 1928 as the Port Arthur Technical School, Boucher fell in love with the place as soon as she walked up the grand staircase and into the two-tiered main auditorium.
“When Robert and I came in, we had a hard time focusing on that project.”
Her wheels began turning about creating incubator space and renting out the classrooms, auditorium, gymnasium, cafeteria, food and nutrition room, and workshop space to entrepreneurs and for community fundraisers, concerts, speaking engagements, conferences and trade shows.
There were plenty of naysayers, but Boucher knew from her experience at PARO, a Thunder Bay women's enterprise organization, that it could work.
“I had been introduced to this unknown economy, all these thriving little businesses run out of someone's kitchen or living room. What if we targeted them and gave them that extra push?”
As a graduate of PARO's Gateway Program and a member of its peer lending circle, she knew many entrepreneurs who would buy into the concept.
Among the centre's stable of tenants are high-tech firms, photographers, a video production company, a martial arts club, a dance studio, a caterer, an accountant, a counselling service and some not-for-profits.
A condition of moving in is that tenants must mix and mingle. All must agree to attend monthly networking sessions.
It was no sweetheart deal to acquire the building. Zanette made three bids to the school board to secure the property away from a southern Ontario condo developer.
The big reason is the view.
The school sits atop a ridge that comes with a million dollar view of the harbour and the Sleeping Giant peninsula.
A football field directly across High Street, owned separately by Zanette, is likely earmarked for multi-residential development.
The flat roof offers a panoramic view of the city which has Boucher bursting with ideas.
Preserving the school's heritage for the benefit of its many alumni is paramount to Boucher, starting with the prancing colt statue over the main entrance.
One prospective tenant asked if they were ever going to get rid of that 'old school feel?””
“Absolutely not,” she said. “This will always be Hillcrest.”
