Shelburne Falls hub to be used as green business engine

By DIANE BRONCACCIO

07/30/2008- The Berkshire Eagle

SHELBURNE FALLS - In the late 1970s, Michael McCusker, a recent University of Massachusetts graduate, bought the Odd Fellows Building and took the audacious step of converting a vacant market storefront into a deli and natural foods store - a business some thought wouldn't fly in a small village like Shelburne Falls. But McCusker's Market thrived and inspired other business ventures there.

Thirty years later, a new generation of "green-minded" college graduates are renting the third floor of the McCusker's Market building, to serve as an incubator where they and other young professionals can grow their own environmentally friendly and sustainable businesses and careers.

"Generation Sustain" is what the five friends and partners are calling their collaboration.

"The idea is to create dynamic space where people with individual or small ventures can share resources, collaborate and network," said Caleb Dean, 24, of Shelburne.

Dean and Tory Hanna, 24, of Buckland, both have bachelor's degrees in environmental design from the UMass Landscape Architecture and Regional Planning program. Colin Bargeron, 24, of Buckland, is studying to be an engineer at UMass. Alee Marsh, 21, of Ashfield, is studying marketing, and Jennifer Kehoe, 21, of Shelburne Falls, is studying sustainable development and public policy at UMass. All five are Mohawk Trail Regional School alums.

Kehoe and Marsh are looking to create a business venture that combines green technologies with women's fashion. "We want to make it so you don't have to be barefoot and wear hemp to be sustainable," she said.

"We're staying for-profit - because we want to break that stereotype as well," Dean said of the green technology field as a nonprofit endeavor. "We want to make money."

Dean and Hanna have degrees in environmental design. Hanna is working this summer in a grant-funded position with the Pittsfield planning office. Dean said he's doing marketing, with a partner in Ithaca, N.Y., for "green" companies.

"I'm also selling 'green' houses for My Green Cottage, as a sales rep," Dean said. He said he's also working with John Anctil of the Swift River Group to redevelop the old Strathmore Paper mill and the former St. Anne's church building in Turners Falls.

"Our whole concept is based on this naive audacity to think we can do whatever the hell we want," Dean said.

Two decades ago, a business "incubator" might have been set up for small businesses to share a receptionist, office space, telephone lines, computers and a fax machine.

But in the shared space, as seen by Dean and the others, those who rent space from them in the complex will have access to wireless Internet and one hard-line Ethernet connection (but they bring their own laptops into the office).

There will also be a printer, a scanner for the printer, and one land-line phone with conference call capacity, although "people will bring their own cell phones," said Dean.

Creative space

The floor plan will remain open as much as possible, and rent will be scaled according to what kind of space people want. People will be able to lease space in the large, sunny front room, which will have work stations but no room dividers to break up the space, or they can set themselves up in the smaller anteroom, which will contain a library and smaller tables. There is also a conference room that everyone can use.

"Friends are starting a business called "Idea Paint," which is a paint that turns any wall into a White Board," said Dean. "So you can just write onto the wall as you talk. We want the space to be totally creative"

The entrance area will be used as an art gallery; the space also includes a little kitchenette, a bathroom with a shower ("Great for those who bike to the office," said Dean), and access to the roof. Dean and Kehoe said they might set up a rooftop garden there eventually or look into setting up a photovoltaic system.

"It's a perfect roof for solar," Dean said.

At first, said Dean, the space was just to be for "green" business ventures, but the group will consider tenants with any ideas, providing they want to work in an energy-sustainable way.

"We really want it to be a dynamic space, where anything is possible," Dean added.

For more information, call Dean at 531-1928 or by email at Caleb@generationsustain.com.

The Web site (under construction) is www.generationsustain.com.

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