This rendering shows the new Umatilla Business Center. The city is hosting a ground-breaking ceremony Oct. 15, 2024, at 4:30 p.m. for the business center at the old post office building, 830 Sixth St., next to Umatilla City Hall.

UMATILLA — The city of Umatilla is hosting a ground-breaking ceremony for the new Umatilla Business Center.

The ceremony takes place Tuesday, Oct. 15, 4:30 p.m. at the old post office building, 830 Sixth St., next to Umatilla City Hall. The event is open to the public.

The business center will occupy the greater part of a city block, except for a warehouse on the southwest corner.

“We are so very excited to get started on this highly anticipated project,” City Manager Dave Stockdale said. “This facility will support local business growth initiatives and help provide local businesses the training and resources they need to successfully grow their business. It will also provide for quality-of-life improvements by helping create a new gathering space for our community.”

The project will repurpose the old post office, which the city purchased in 2019, and feature a new two-story addition immediately north of the existing building. According to the city press release, the development is a key element of the Umatilla Civic Center Master Plan, designed to energize the downtown and create a vibrant city center that includes civic facilities, office spaces and cultural offerings.

This mixed-use facility will encompass 11,500 square feet and will front Sixth Street. The project includes space to host meetings or small conferences or recreational programs as well as a commercial kitchen.

The city also will modify Village Square Park to incorporate a more modern plaza feel with infrastructure for food trucks and other vendors as another place to hold community gatherings and the reincorporation of the city’s Saturday Market.

But the central feature of of the project is the business incubator program, which will provide for any new-to-Umatilla business to rent space at the center at significantly below market rates, in exchange for “education equity” from the businesses.

Those businesses will work closely with the city’s Community Development Department and other partners to learn more about business fundamentals such as marketing and sales, operational management, and more, according to the press release.

Participants in the Business Incubator program will be able to use their cost savings and educational training to invest financial and learned resources back into their business with the goal of graduating from the program in two to three years, then move to another location within the city and make room for the next participant.

For more on this project and other city projects, visit the city of Umatilla website.