2 eateries, a hotel and a financial institution lined up

He wouldn't name names, but the project manager for the development just under way between Shopko and Lowe's on the north side of town said four businesses are lined up to fill in the space between the discount store and the home improvement warehouse.

";I can't give specific names yet," said Robert Schmidt of PEG Development, the Utah-based firm that's developing the property. PEG also developed the Home Depot-based Skyway Shopping Center on the other side of the interstate.

Schmidt said the tenants lined up so far include ";a fast food restaurant, a financial institution, a hotel and a sit-down restaurant."

He expects the fast food restaurant to be open by the end of the year and the sit-down restaurant by the end of February. The timing is less certain for the other two businesses.

PEG bought the property from Shopko and had its subdivision approved last month. The property is being graded, and Schmidt said utility work will begin within a week or so.

Schmidt said access to the new businesses will be off of Sanders Street, and that drivers will be able to go from Sanders through to the Shopko/Albertson's/Ross shopping plaza and on to North Montana Avenue without using Custer Avenue. That will mean formalizing the curb-hopping ";short-cut" drivers have created between Lowe's and the North Montana businesses.

Mountain views: David Hardy recently moved his business, and picked up a new name along the way.

The former Pearle Vision franchisee at the corner of North Montana and Prospect, Hardy changed both his address and business name at the first of the month, opening Elkhorn Vision Center on the Old Montana State Highway in Montana City.

Hardy said he changed the name because he decided not to renew his Pearle Vision franchise, and that the move was part of that deal as well: a non-compete clause in his contract with the national chain of vision centers stipulated he couldn't open a new business within three miles of his old franchise for at least a year.

";This move had more to do with contracts than anything else," Hardy said. ";Nothing's really changed other than the name."

Hardy and his four employees moved into space formerly occupied (and still owned) by Sierra Custom Homes. Hardy said it's about the same size but a better building, and he still claims the fastest lab in town.

E-mail your Open for Business ideas to john.harrington@helenair.com.