The future is looking bright at the Sayre Enterprise Center on South Elmer Avenue, according to Center Executive Director Tim Phinney.

“We’ve got several new businesses, probably the largest of which is Progressive Business Publications,” said Phinney. “They have 15 offices in three states, employing over 600 people. Currently they have 38 here and when they’re fully staffed, they will be at 50.”

The manager of the company’s Sayre branch, Kurt Risch, is originally from Towanda and wanted to return to the Bradford County area, said Phinney.

“They had looked for a space here in the Valley for quite awhile,” he said. “They were having a hard time finding anything and almost gave up. He happened to stop in the (Greater Valley Chamber of Commerce) office one day and said, ‘Do you know of anything (available)?”

Chamber Executive Marketing Director Eleanor Hill, whose office is also located in the Enterprise Center, responded “Yeah, here,” said Phinney.

An interesting sidenote to this story is that the space offered to Progressive Business Publications was a little bigger than what the company was looking for, said Phinney.

“So I ended up relocating the chamber (office) in the area” that wasn’t being used by Progressive Business Publications, he said.

The company is currently leasing 2,680 square feet in the center, Phinney added.

Progressive Business Publications is not the only recent addition to the Enterprise Center tenant base. Caregivers America opened up a branch office in the center almost a year ago, said Phinney.

Other businesses that have opened up shop in the center within the last year include Allied Services, Morgan Transportation, Commercial Printing and Valley Pack and Ship, a new service offered by Al Farr of Farr Manufacturing, said Phinney.

Currently, the center has 26 tenants which employ over 130 people, he added.

That number is the largest amount of employees that have been located at the Enterprise Center in its over 10 years as a business incubator, said Phinney.

“We’ve got two more real good prospects,” that are looking to set up shop at the Enterprise Center, which would bring another 10 jobs to the area, he said.

“There are some things on the horizon,” he said of the future of the center. “With the expanded tenant base and rents, we’re going to be able to take on some more capital improvements projects here.”

Established in 1997, the Sayre Enterprise Center is a non-profit business incubator dedicated to the creation of new jobs by facilitating start-up businesses.

The Enterprise Center allows entrepreneurs and fledgling businesses the opportunity to start and grow in the facility while taking advantage of the benefits of a business incubator.