sunday | september 30 an advertising supplement to the PAGE 3

Saddle Drive Business District

the ir’s quarterly look at new and growing

businesses in the Helena area.

fall 2012

Mountain Surgical Arts Helena Eye Clinic Sussex Construction

With a very specific mission and vision, the Saddle Drive Business Districtwas born.In 2010 Sussex Construction, Inc. built the Sussex Building [a certified green build project] at 3130 Saddle Drive in what is known as Nob Hill and the Saddle Drive Business District With a “Modern Montana” aesthetic, the new business district sets a refreshing, refined tone.

In 2011 Mountain Surgical Arts moved into the Sussex Building.

In 2012 Helena Eye Clinic expanded the Saddle Dr. Business district.

Comprehensive patient/client services are also a key part of the mission and vision of the businesses in the area.

On October 4, Dr. Debra Kontny and her staff at Mountain Surgical Arts and Drs. Craig Wilkerson and Chad Swanson of the Helena Eye Clinic, and Rebekka Cantrell and Ron Bartsch of Sussex Construction invite you to attend an open house celebrating the success of the Saddle Drive Business District.

They want you to know “we are here... we are your local, Helena doctors and business professionals. We are proud to be a part of the Helena Community and proud to offer caring, personalized, comprehensive services.”

Dr. Debra Kontny opened the doors of Mountain Surgical Arts [MSA] on Saddle Drive in January 2011. With a philosophy of treating the whole person in one place; the knowledgeable, caring, and empathetic team and staff offer a variety of professional treatments and services in a safe clinical, yet homey office setting.

Dr. Kontny is a Board Certified Surgeon, an Oncoplastic Surgeon, Fellow of the American College of Surgeons, and a member of the American College of Phlebology.

Dr. Kontny is also the leading expert in breast care/health in the Helena area. From diagnosis to tumor removal to aesthetic. “Individual care is undertaken all here in this building. The patient doesn’t have to visit several different offices in town,” explains Dr. Kontny.

MSA is exceptionally considerate of their client’s needs and emotions and uses expert surgical techniques and services to provide results that enhance the patient’s natural beauty and overall wellness. Among the aesthetic services offered are Botox, Visia complexion analysis, thigh and breast lifts, laser hair removal, skin firming techniques, medical grade skin health products, and laser treatments targeting sun damage, age spots, stretch marks, acne, rosacea, scars, and much more. MSA uses the most advanced laser platform treatments. They are medically tested and biopsy proven.

Massage therapy is also available, both for relaxation and therapeutic purposes.

MSA, the area’s Regional Vein Clinic is now also able to offer same day Ultrasound services. Please go to mountainsurgicalarts.com to learn more.

In February of 2012, Helena Eye Clinic moved its offices to the Nob Hill Professional Center, in the heart of Saddle Drive Business District.

Helena Eye Clinic has been serving the Helena community for eight years. Ophthalmologist and eye surgeon Craig Wilkerson MD has consistently provided skilled surgical care for Helena area patients. With treatment for cataracts, macular degeneration, diabetic retinopathy, glaucoma, eyelids and refractive surgical conditions. Optometrist Chad Swanson OD provides comprehensive eye exams, fitting for glasses and contact lenses, treatment of eye conditions and surgical co-management.

Together Drs. Wilkerson and Swanson are Helena’s only dual-profession eye care team providing comprehensive eye care that encompasses detection, diagnosis, correction and treatment of vision conditions for people of all ages. In addition they can treat retinal and pediatric ophthalmology sub-specialists for patients at the clinic on a monthly basis.

Helena Eye Clinic has rapidly become known for its artistically inspired optical department and beautiful office setting. The seasonal interior design includes art work from local Helena artists. Helena Eye Clinic Optical Department offers affordability, functionality and fashion and is staffed exclusively by Board Certified Opticians.

By early 2013 a free standing multi-specialty ambulatory surgery center will occupy a suite in the lower level of the Nob Hill Professional Center. This exciting addition will further enhance the overall convenience, functionality and availability of services to Helena area residents.

It was Rebekka Cantrell, co-owner [with her husband Ron Bartsch] of Sussex Construction, who first described the Saddle Drive Business District as “Modern Montana.” With the vision of “Modern Montana” comes a refreshing, refined tone. A place where quality people provide quality care and service.

In 2010 Sussex Construction, Inc. built the Sussex Building on Saddle Drive. It is on the top floor of this building where Ron and Rebekka and their team work as a full service design construction company. They are designers, builders, and developers. They do foundations, framing, roadwork, floor plans, interior design, kitchen design, landscape design, remodeling, and more! The team conducts an extensive interview and uses state-of-the-art computer software to help you create the home that will be your heritage.

Since 1996 Sussex Construction, Inc. has been beautifying the Helena area with their homes. They have constructed over 80 homes in Montana and are passionately pursuing Montana’s Green Community, Heron Creek, a geothermal home community that offers a central ground source heat pump system that utilizes the earth for heating and cooling needs in the home. In addition, all the community facilities will be powered by solar technologies.

Ron Bartsch explained, “That with our personalized comprehensive design/build services, our highly qualified expert team, and philosophy that the craft stands above everything else, Sussex Construction offers the best value, the most time savings and finest quality.”

3116 Saddle Drive, Suite #3Helena, MT 59601(406) 443-4040

3130 Saddle Drive, Suite #2Helena, MT 59601

(406) 513-1962

3130 Saddle Drive, Suite #5Helena, MT 59601(406) 495-9663

sunday | september 30an advertising supplement to thePAGE 4 sunday | september 30 an advertising supplement to the PAGE 5

the ir’s quarterly look at new and growing

businesses in the Helena area.

fall 2012 the ir’s quarterly look at new and growing

businesses in the Helena area.

fall 2012

Placer Motors

1515 Euclid Avenue • Helena, MT 5960 • Tel: (406) 442-2603 • Fax: (406) 443-2705

Ernest Walfrid Anderson, Sr.

Today

1919

COURTESY OF THE ANDERSONS

Founded by Swedish immigrant Ernest Walfrid Anderson, Sr. in 1919, Anderson Motors was one of the west’s leading Chevrolet dealers for decades.

Carl Clemon “Clem” Anderson 1913-1996

1937

COURTESY OF THE ANDERSONS

About 1937, General Motors announced that dual dealerships had to be broken up -- you couldn’t sell Chevrolet and Oldsmobile, or Oldsmobile and Buick. Clem Anderson, who was then head of the parts department at Anderson Motors, opened Placer Motors at 428 N. Main St.World War II interrupted new auto sales, and Placer Motors closed temporarily when Clem Anderson joined the Navy.

1946

After Clem’s discharge, in January of 1946, Placer Motors reopened at 428 N. Main. By April of that year, the dealership had moved to 431 Fuller, in the Empson Building.

1964

Placer Motors is still an Anderson family business. After Clem Anderson retired, he sold the dealership to his son Dave. Dave is now retired and Erik Anderson is in charge.

1958

Clem Anderson is on the right in this 1958 photo taken in front of the dealership on Fuller Ave.

1919

COURTESY OF THE ANDERSONS

This beautiful circa 1919 photo of the now-demolished west Empson Building shows the

SE corner of Fuller and Placer. This Mission Style structure was for many years the home of Helena automobile dealerships, most notably Anderson Motors, Placer Motors and Capital Ford.

1923

Anderson Chevrolet newspaper ad, October 1923.

By 1923, Anderson Chevrolet had moved a block west to this prime location, the SE corner of Fuller and Placer, in the west Empson Building.

A Trainload of 1936 Chevrolets

1936The train with 200 new 1936 Chevy cars and trucks aboard, arriving at the Great Northern Depot, April 11, 1936. This is now the site of

the Great Northern Town Center. In the background, at the very end of the train, can be seen the pillars of the Euclid overpass, which was then under construction; it is now demolished.

On April 11, 1936, in the midst of the Great Depression, E. W. Anderson Sr. ordered 200 new Chevy cars and trucks. They filled 50 railroad cars and arrived via special train. It was the first full trainload of Chevrolets ever sent to Montana for a single agency. Despite the stuggling economy, every car sold.

COURTESY OF THE ANDERSONS

COURTESY OF THE ANDERSONS

The men of Anderson Motors gathered at the train for photos. E. W. Anderson, Sr. is seen shaking hands in the center, wearing a light-colored coat. Ernest W. Anderson, Jr. (“Ernie”) is to his right. The others are unidentified.It was around this time that Ernie Anderson (1907-1973) took over the operation of the dealership. E. W. Anderson, Sr. then devoted more time to civic affairs, and to his hobby of thoroughbred race horses, which ran with great success on tracks throughout the west, and even in Cuba.

Dave Anderson Placer Motors, 1515 Euclid Avenue

Erick Anderson, Owner

CElEBRATING 75 YEARSAND 4 GENERATIONS

In America in the 1920s, women’s hairstyles grew shorter, jazz filled the air, prohibition took effect and the automobile industry was booming. At the same time, Swedish immi-

grant Ernest Walfrid Anderson, Sr. was laying the foundation for what would become Placer Motors of Helena.

Ernest’s journey began in East Helena in 1906 when he opened his own grocery store called An-derson and Steckler General Merchandise. Some-where along the way he decided to start selling cars outside the store, which he brought back west from Detroit. Ernest’s love of the car business blossomed though and in 1919 he sold his store and used the proceeds to open Anderson Chevrolet in Helena.

This original dealership was located at 7th & 9th Placer St. in the east Empson Building. Er-nest started out selling Chevrolets, but later added Oldsmobile and Hudson to his lineup. By 1923, Anderson Chevrolet moved a block west to a prime new location in the west Empson Building.

After the Great Depression hit in 1929, most of the country was hurting for business. But it didn’t slow Ernest down in the least. On April 11, 1936, he ordered 200 new Chevy cars and trucks. The ve-hicles filled 50 railroad cars and arrived to Helena via a special train. This was the first full trainload of Chevrolets ever sent to Montana for a single agency. And despite the economy still struggling to get back on its feet, Ernest managed to sell all 200 cars.

Shortly after this Ernest’s son, Ernest W. Ander-son Jr. (Ernie) assumed control of operations of his father’s business. Knowing his business was in good hands, Ernest Sr. was able to devote more time to his favorite hobby of thoroughbred horse racing.

In 1937 General Motors made a major announce-ment concerning the car business. Dealers could no longer sell Chevrolet and Oldsmobile together or Oldsmobile and Buick together. The dual dealer-ships had to be broken up. Ernie maintained control of Chevrolet and renamed his dealership Anderson Motors while his brother, Clem Anderson, who was then the head of the parts department at Anderson Motors, took over Oldsmobile and opened Placer Motors at 428. N. Main St.

Before Clem really had a chance to develop his new dealership, World War II began and halted the production of automobiles nationwide. Clem was drafted into the Navy and Placer Motors temporar-ily closed. In January of 1946, Clem was finally discharged from his services and Placer Motors reopened at 428 N. Main St. downtown. By April though, the business moved yet again to 431 Fuller in the Empson Building.

As the years went on, Clem and Ernie contin-ued to do what they did best: sell cars. Eventually Clem decided he was ready for retirement though and passed the torch of the business on to his son Dave. Meanwhile in 1961, Ernie sold out Anderson Motors to long time Montana auto dealer George Vucanovich.

Placer Motors continued to see its share of changes over the years. In 1966, the store moved to its current location off Euclid Ave. It also saw changes in the lineup of cars it offered. During the late 1960s, Placer adopted AMC Jeep and in 1972 they picked up Subaru. In 1978 AMC was sold to Prospector Chevrolet. Then in 1984 Pontiac was brought on. While these new cars stayed on for several years, Oldsmobile eventually dropped off in 2004 and Pontiac in 2010 leaving Placer with Subaru. As of today, Placer is the 5th oldest Subaru dealer in the U.S.

Dave Anderson remained the official owner of

Placer up until almost a year ago. But his son, Erick Anderson, functioned as the operating owner for the last 10 years. In January of this year, Dave finally handed over the reins making Erick the full owner.

With 75 years of history in a nutshell, what is left is that Placer Motors is still a family owned and run business and has withstood the tests of time through depressions, war, gas crunches, hyper inflation, etc. When asked how Placer has managed to do all this and still be going strong today, Erick replied that “it has a lot to do with the way things are done.”

For one thing, Placer’s employees function together like a family and most are long term employees, some having worked there for decades. Ken Nettleton, one of Placer’s salesmen is the lon-gest standing salesman for Subaru and has worked for Placer for over 30 years. “It’s a tight knit little group,” Erick said. According to Erick his staff also has a say in what they do and how they do it. “The employees have the authority to be them-selves and do their own thing,” he said. “When you get the right people, they know what to do and you don’t have to tell them.”

Erick also runs his dealership on the same princi-ples it was founded on, one of which is honesty. “If we tell you we’re going to do something, we do it,” he said. Customers are treated fairly and there is never a worry that the dealership is doing anything sneaky or underhanded behind their backs.

While many car dealerships have strict dress codes of suits and ties, Placer keeps a more laid back feel to the attire while still staying serious about business. “We’re not a suit and tie store,” said Erick. “We’re not fancy but we will do the job and do it right.”

Most importantly, Placer maintains a small town environment. Rather than function on the structured system of most car dealerships today that bounce customers back and forth like a pin ball between sales people, finance people and managers, Placer still does business on a handshake as much as pos-sible and puts the customer first. “We do what the customer wants as compared to what we want the customer to do,” said Erick. He went on to explain that building good relationships like this with his customers is what keeps them coming back through the years and makes him feel good about meeting them on the street.

Placer even has regular “crew” of customers that come in during the week just to have coffee and converse with the staff. Some do this so often that they even have their own labeled coffee mug that Erick stores in his office. As odd as that might sound, that type of camaraderie has been part of Placer for years. Erick recalls that his grandfather Clem, Ralph Anderson of Capital Ford, and Rex Grimes of Grimes Motors would often close up their shops downtown at noon and head over to the Montana Club to talk and relax. The car dealerships of today may not be quite as friendly with each other as that, but Placer hasn’t lost this feeling in its store.

Over the years, Placer Motors has been told that they can’t run their dealership the way they do. “But, yes, we can and, yes, we do,” said Erick. “If it works why change it?”

With 29 current employees, a 4th generation Anderson as the owner and 75 years of proven success, it is clear that Placer Motors is here to stay. And while plans are in the works for a major remodel of the current store, the honest, friendly and customer-oriented service will stay the same.

“We’re going to continue doing what we’ve always done,” said Erick.

By Lacey Middlestead

Sylvan Learning Center

the ir’s quarterly look at new and growing

businesses in the Helena area.

fall 2012

sunday | september 30an advertising supplement to thePAGE 6

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Mountain West Bank

For 17 years, Sylvan Learning Center of Helena has been improving students’ academic skills and sending them back out into the world more confident and prepared in all areas of their life.

With over 900 centers, Sylvan is America’s #1 provider of supplemental tutoring services. At Sylvan, there is no such thing as a one-size-fits-all approach. The 12 staff members at Helena’s center work to personalize a program for each student that will help them achieve their academic goals and needs. These customized learning plans help with everything from math, reading, and writing, to study skills and SAT/ACT test prep.

When a student first arrives at Sylvan, they are given a skills assessment that identifies what their strengths are and where their specific needs lie. The staff uses the results of this assessment to tailor a plan that will best meet those needs. Once a plan is designed a student will spend between two – six hours a week getting help at Sylvan, according to Charlene Kautzman, executive director at Helena’s Sylvan Center. Sylvan staff conferences with parents every twelve hours of instruction to keep them updated on their child’s progress.

One of the major advantages for students at Sylvan is the smaller learning environment. In a regular classroom, students are competing with 25 plus students for help from the teacher. At Sylvan they have more one-on-one opportunities with the teachers and are apt to feel more comfortable with asking questions.

In embracing new technology trends, the Helena Sylvan will soon implement the use of iPads and a digital program called Sylvan Sync. Kautzman explained that the iPads will help enhance the instruction process for both teachers and students and make learning more engaging for students.

For the last two years Sylvan has partnered with the Helena School District in order to enable more students to take advantage of their services. According to Kautzman, Sylvan serves between 50 and 80 students ranging in age from five-year-olds in kindergarten to adults looking to improve their math, reading or writing skills.

Why choose Sylvan? “Because we’re the best,” said Ryan Collver, assistant center director at Sylvan. “It’s a proven process,” he said. “The staff does an amazing job at making connections with students and helping students use their strengths to get the skills they need.”

The staff at Sylvan agrees that seeing a student have that “aha!” moment when the information they’ve been struggling with for so long finally clicks is one of the most rewarding parts. As students’ skills improve, there is also a sense of confidence that shines through. And that confidence overflows into other areas of a student’s life. Kautzman explained that one student’s skills and coordination in basketball even improved with the confidence he’d gained from becoming a better reader.

“Seeing that confidence grow is huge,” said Kautzman.

When Kim Smith first founded Valley Sand and Gravel of Helena in 1973, he probably had no idea how much growth his business would see in the years to come. The company grew from initially focusing on septic systems, water lines, and foundation work into a full scale excavating, sand and gravel, construction, and housing development company. And thanks to an established and trusted relationship with Mountain West Bank, Smith’s business was able to achieve such growth.

Smith started working with Mountain West in 1992, right around the time it first opened its doors. He chose it because he liked the fact that it is locally owned and managed and all loan decisions are made locally.

With the bank’s help, Valley Sand and Gravel has been able to expand their facility, purchase land, real estate, and trucks and “everything you can think of,” said Smith.

Smith admits that lending markets have become more difficult since he started out but “I’ve never had any problems dealing with the bank,” he said. He went on to explain that Mountain West has been “reasonable” to deal with and “timely.” There were times when Smith needed to secure a loan for a purchase and was not able to give the bank much notice beforehand but Mountain West still got it accomplished.

On the flip side, Dan Mazurek, Smith’s current loan officer, admitted that Smith has always been a good customer to deal with and is helpful in facilitating the loan process. “Kim doesn’t bat an eye to get back to us on information we need,” said Mazurek.

Both Mazurek and Smith respect each other’s business sense and are always willing to seek out and listen to each other’s ideas.

“They [Mountain West] have a good feel for market prices and opportunities,” said Smith.

“He [Smith] comes in with ideas but wants to sill have a discussion with the bank and get our opinion on his ideas,” said Mazurek.

While Smith continues to develop Valley Sand and Gravel, Mountain West will be there every step of the way making sure he is able to achieve all of his business goals.

By Lacey MiddlesteadBy Lacey Middlestead

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