Building Our Future in Glide
We’re really doing it!
Back in the summer of 2019, we had this brilliant idea. Buy some property and give The Atom its own home. Seemed like a great idea at the time, and we jumped at the chance after talking to the owners of the lot across from GHS – the perfect spot to grow our dream. We are so grateful to Buck Rock Properties (John Livingston and Dick Creighton) for believing that we could build something beneficial to Glide on their piece of property. Without their generosity, we couldn’t have even started this process.
Even with their generosity, we needed help to make this happen. This is where I need to thank my Mom and Dad. I know… I’d rather everyone believe that I was so successful that I could afford to pay for this lot on my own, but without my Mom and Dad (Rick and Mary Jo Johnson), we couldn’t have done it. From the bottom of my heart, I thank them for believing in me and my husband and our ability to pull this off. I promise to do my best to make you proud.
Property in hand, we made some big plans – hired an architect out of Eugene. Many thousands of dollars later, we had a building design that belonged in… well… Eugene. We scrapped the plan and started looking at other ideas. As much as we wanted to show Glide what we had to offer, we also wanted to pay homage to this great little town we call home, keep our eclectic and homey atmosphere and not lose the original Atom in the process. Back to the drawing board.
Then 2020.
We chickened out.
A funny thing happened, though. Throughout the pandemic, multiple closures and regulations, the Archie Creek fires, my time away volunteering for a nonprofit aiding in fire recovery and community development, knee surgery, back surgeries, more fires, supply chain issues, and inflation… we continued to grow. I kept scratching my head. It was something I wanted so badly, but was so sure we’d have to walk away like so many others had to do. But we just kept growing. It became clear that we needed to make some decisions.
And trust me – the decision wasn’t easy. We had so many opportunities to walk away. I had multiple offers on my property… offering more than twice what I paid for it. After all, we were the only commercial lot in Glide that had a water hook up secured. It was tempting, but we declined. Many may not agree with me, but I felt Glide didn’t need more dollar stores – we deserved something more.
We made the decision to do our best to provide that “something more”.
In the summer of 2022, we knew it was now or never. We decided not to scale up business as usual – keep our hours limited to keep operations as simple as possible to focus on the growth of the future business. We figured we would have no problem having a new building by the summer of 2023. We were wrong.
The Financing
Financing this project has been a literal nightmare, and we were very naïve going in to this. We figured if we showed the pattern of growth of 30%-40% annually (except 2022 – since we didn’t ramp up in the summer), listed our limitations with the current location, outlined the business plan of the new location with not only a more central and visible location, a drive through (known to increase sales by 30%), double the seating, double the hours, more efficient set up for faster service, actual parking, more space for local vendor and Atom Merchandise, more ovens for baked goods for sale, and a community space for events, our current and projected business income along with our current personal income – it would be a no-brainer for any financial institution. Again, we were wrong.
As much as I would like to boast how great it is to live in a country where we can all live the American dream, the fact is this… it is built to support large corporations and institutions that already have money. Every bank wanted us to have hundreds of thousands of dollars of cash in hand. They didn’t care we owned the property outright and had doubled that investment, that we had already covered Geotech reports, water hook-ups, surveying, and some engineering. They didn’t care that we had equity in our home and the ability to build at owner cost. They wouldn’t loan on projections. They would only loan on current revenue. Why would I spend this much on a build if I was making what I could make in our current location? We had a few disheartening moments, but we kept turning into the storm to find a way.
At this time, I want to thank a few people that believed in us. We had a great team tirelessly working to find us funding because they knew us, our business, and our dream. There are a few names that must be mentioned:
Matt Kowal at Oregon Pacific Bank. Oregon Pacific wouldn’t lend to us on projections, but that didn’t stop Matt from continuing to help us. He met with us weekly until we had a deal. He continues to work with us to get us through this process.
Michele Laird at the CCD… I can’t thank her enough. Michele took this project under her wing and didn’t stop until it was done. She believed in us from the beginning, and the CCD has been one of our biggest supporters. She was able to get us more funding from the CCD than their typical maximum, and she continues to check in on the progress and offer assistance. The CCD truly looks after small businesses.
Diane Mahoney from the Small Business Development Center. I have known Diane for years, and she jumped at the chance to help us. She has been a great mentor and helped track down multiple avenues and possibilities. I’m sad to know that she is no longer at the SBDC, but Christopher is a great addition and continues to help us through this project.
Morgan Smith at Geneva Financial finally sealed the deal and came in with the funding on a wing and a prayer.
And Jeff’s parents, Gordon and Kathy Brown – when financing didn’t come through as quickly as we expected, they mortgaged their house so we could have the building delivered as expected. Seriously… who does that?
We are so grateful to this entire team for believing in us… and ultimately loving The Atom, us, and this possibility for growth and success.
Our Contracting Team
Our contractors were waiting for the go-ahead for almost five months. After reaching the title company twice, we finally got approval the end of July. Ground broken, we have had contractors working so quickly and been so willing to help us even as we continue to battle timelines for construction draws – believing in the project and being excited to bring this to Glide!
We need to thank:
Trevor Ison at TCI Construction. We are so impressed with his quality of work and flexibility. I am so happy with the concrete work he has provided. John and Amy O’Sullivan at North River Electric – they’ve been so easy to work with and couldn’t be happier with their work. I can’t wait to have enough electricity to both bake bread and make soup without blowing a breaker. Brody Miller at North Umpqua Plumbing – on time and delivered more than promised. I’ve never been so excited about drain lines and floor sinks. H3 Construction – they’re out there now doing a great job getting this building put together. And it’s been a pleasure working with Nick Lovemark at IE Architecture, Eric Ranger at IE Engineering, Tim Swensen at Western Testing, Pam Smith at Gerretsen Building Supply, and of course Glide Water and Glide Idleyld Sanitary District. There will be more thanks coming, but that’s a start.
Mostly – there is one person that deserves more thanks than everyone else. See… I’ve always been a dreamer. I’m an artist. That’s what I do. I dream. But only one person in my life has said “Okay, let’s make this happen.” From designing the building to tirelessly lining up contractors, working a 60-hour work week for Pacific Power and then another 25–30-hour week on our lot excavating to push the work forward, listening to me as I doubt myself, and helping me when he has too much on his plate already. I humbly admit – I’m in love with my general contractor. We were turned down by more than one financial institution because they weren’t comfortable with an ‘owner build’… my licensed and bonded, committed, devoted contractor husband. Never did I consider going another direction. I knew there would never be another person more committed to quality, integrity, efficiency, and devotion to the project – and to me. My husband, Jeff Brown, is the only one for the job.
And with that – I’m going to leave you with what you’ve been dying to see… the rendering of our completed building…rendered by my brother, Scott Johnson of Alturas Homes in Meridian, ID, done as a favor for his big sister. Complete with drive-thru, fire place, indoor to outdoor seating, covered patio, and community space. We are so excited to bring this to Glide. Projected opening? We don’t know. We aim for January and hope for the best. We’ve never done this before… but by the end, we will have more knowledge than we had ever hoped.
