With 8 small businesses already in the building, the developer may expand the project to other sites. Mayor Dave Bieter lit a huge light bulb Wednesday to mark the opening of developer Mark Rivers' Boise WaterCooler project - an incubation center for entrepreneurs and small business in Downtown Boise.

Rivers converted the former Boise Heating & Cooling building on the corner of 14th and Idaho streets into the WaterCooler.

"It is a huge milestone for Boise," Rivers said. "It sends a message to the rest of the world that Boise is open for business when it comes to innovation and creativity."

The building remained vacant for a decade before Rivers arranged to lease it from the Capital City Development Corp., Boise's urban renewal agency. He is paying for improvements with $100,000 of his own money, $40,000 from CCDC, and $50,000 for streetscape improvements from the city of Boise.

Rivers said Wednesday the building is already occupied by eight small businesses, and additional cubicle spaces have been rented, too. So he is considering expanding the project to other buildings.

The WaterCooler was envisioned as a place for startup companies to find affordable office space and access to expertise. It will be home to Idaho TechConnect, which helps companies secure grants and investor financing, and Boise State University's Centre for Creativity, which studies how creativity affects economic development.

The WaterCooler's small companies with four or five employees each could grow to employ 40 or 50 employees each over coming years, Rivers said.

"As a community, we need to find the next generation of employers," he said.

Rivers has said the WaterCooler will target companies in creative industries like software development, multimedia filmmaking, green technologies, communication and marketing.

Companies are charged about $700 a month, which includes some office administration, use of conference facilities and some telecommunication and data services. Cubicles for individual entrepreneurs are $200 a month.

Boise officials can help the businesses and the WaterCooler succeed by creating a good business climate and a livable city, Bieter said Wednesday.

"We don't have incentive dollars," Bieter said. "So we need to come up with creative efforts like this to bring things along."

Bieter lauded the WaterCooler as a place where young entrepreneurs, whom he calls "gatherers," will find success.

This article written by Kathleen Kreller - kkreller@idahostatesman.com

Edition Date: 05/22/08