The former Huron Business Development Bank in Seaforth now has a new location and a new name.
General Manager Paul Nichol explains the name was changed to Community Futures Huron about one year ago, and after 24 years in Seaforth they have moved into a new location on the main street of Brussels.
Nichol says the move is a down-sizing after the exceptional run of activity that was part of the economic downturn from 2008 till 2010. Nichol says in that period the federal government was doing everything they could to boost the economy and that meant the Huron Business Development Bank was extremely busy with projects and staff.
But with the economic recovery, they are not as busy and don't require as much staff or space so it made sense to find something smaller.
Nichol points out they still coordinate projects and offer counselling and financing, but they do it in a smaller space.
The new Community Futures office is located in the Brussels Medical-Dental Clinic on the main street in Brussels.
"We had a lot of space in the building in Seaforth that we no longer required so we've downsized a lot from our peak, likely in 2008, 2009, 2010 was our peak years in terms of projects and number of people employed so, it was just a downsize," says Nichol.