START-UP SCHOOL.

• Author: KERVEN, ANNE

GRAND JUNCTION'S BUSINESS INCUBATOR TEACHES BUDDING BUSINESS OWNERS THE ROPES IN A SAFE ENVIRONMENT.

It's like a game show, but way more serious.

Behind door No. 2 down the hall, trail signs line the walls, tables and workstations, waiting for transport to ski resorts.

Behind door No. 1, workers sit at two tables, assembling straps for a colorful wall full of children's snowshoes.

And behind door No. 3, a green, roughly 2.5-foot-square board with intricate measurements imprinted on it, sits on a table, not quite ready for shipping to a paper conversion plant.

Door No. 4 is locked.

Door No. 5 leads to a room full of heavy, loud manufacturing equipment, churning out plastic parts.

And that's just in, the manufacturing building.

Meet the Western Colorado Business Development Corp.'s incubator facility in Grand Junction, a microcosm of the business world where budding business owners learn the ropes for five years in a protected environment. including lower-than-market rent, and business support and advice. One of nine Colorado business incubators, it gets overall rave reviews, but it's not without its critics: One alumnus and board member questions the facility's 13-year-old incubation program and its need in a healthy economy. And despite $1 million in renovations, the incubator's tenancy on a 57-year-old U.S. Department of Energy site will not be definite until October. when official site transfer occurs. Until then, incubator officials can't rule out another relocation.

"The incubator played a key role in the mid'80s, when we were trying to get on our economic feet," said Diane Schwenke, president and CEO of the Grand Junction Chamber of Commerce. The chamber was instrumental in starting the incubator, which "has done a remarkable job of doing its mission" of generating new employment.

Until April 1999, the incubator resided on Main Street, playing its part in Mesa County's three-pronged eco-devo program: The Mesa County Economic Development Council handled business attraction; the Grand Junction Chamber focused on business expansion; and the incubator helped startups. Facing demolition for a courthouse expansion, its board sought a new location.

The City of Grand Junction and Mesa County had formed the Joint Utilities Commission in part to help offset the impact of DOE's layoffs --some 500 employees since a '96 high of 800 and still expected to drop. JUC is negotiating the ultimate use of the 56-acre DOE site on the banks of the Gunnison...