The Humboldt & District Chamber of Commerce will soon have a new home as part of the city's new business hub, to be located at 1305 8th Avenue, the organization announced on Sept. 10.
The winning location beat out five other bids and, according to chamber executive director DonnaLyn Thorsteinson, offered almost everything the organization was looking for.
"It fit our budget and the location is perfect," Thorsteinson said. "There's also good parking available with great visibility and we're happy that it's locally owned, giving us the option to use local tradespeople to do any improvements needed."
Thorsteinson's vision is for the hub to offer rental office space to businesses that currently operate out of private homes or conduct meetings in coffee shops due to a lack of space. It will also be a welcome upgrade from the chamber's current offices, located in the cramped visitor information centre next to the mini-putt on the east side of town.
"We want to offer both a professional office for the chamber and to increase business capacity in the area by creating an environment where mentoring and networking is easy," she said.
The future business hub location, next door to Curves along Highway 5, is all but empty right now, meaning the doors might open even before the expected date of next spring.
"The majority of the building is open right now, which means we get to design it as we want," Thorsteinson said. "We're going to get working on the lease agreement as soon as possible and we could be in there sooner than we expected."
The new building will include four cubicles, seven offices and one executive office available for rent, either on a permanent or temporary basis. Also on hand will be video conferencing equipment that is currently available in Humboldt only to a few private businesses that have purchased their own equipment.
"The cubicles could be useful for someone who doesn't have to meet clients as much but still wants to be in a professional environment, rather than working from home," Thorsteinson said. "The businesses that are currently interested don't have office space in the region. They may work from home or meet in a coffee shop, for example."
There has already been some interest in renting space, according to Thorsteinson, and the chamber will be holding an open house on Sept. 20 at its current offices to inform both its own members and potential renters about the new location.
The business hub will be the first of its kind in rural Saskatchewan and was inspired by The Two Twenty, a co-operative working space that opened in Saskatoon in 2010. Thorsteinson visited The Two Twenty about a year ago and immediately saw the potential for a similar operation for Humboldt and the surrounding area.
In about 12 months, the idea has gone from concept to reality. In another year, the question of whether or not this novel experiment will work should be easier to answer.
