Any self-help guru will tell you that “getting connected” is a key to business success.  Two former grade school classmates have taken that advice to a literal extreme, selling hookups that cover home, work and play.  A former die-cutting plant on Portland’s inner east side now sports a shocking yellow exterior calling attention to the enterprises within…”Destination Wireless,” “Smart Connection,” “Golf Connection” and “Players Club.”

These businesses are the collective brainchild of Steve Anderson and Bill Lorenz, former students at Harding elementary school in Corvallis.  In the past few months, these entrepreneurs have merged their respective experience and enthusiasm into a unique business entity that can bring your home into the 21st century, ramp up your cell phone capabilities, improve your golf swing, provide a play site for putters and pool sharks, let ‘virtual reality’ test your skills on some of the planet’s finest golf courses, offer multiple theatre screen viewing for sports events and provide a catering and conference venue for corporate meetings or family party occasions.  A pair of broadcast satellite receiving dishes pipe in the full spectrum of televised sporting events.

All this is under one 7,000 square foot roof on SE Ash street just blocks from Portland’s downtown core. 

The party-hosting potential of the facility has already been well-tested
by groups of University of Oregon and Oregon State fans whooping it up before the big screens during the 2001 Civil War football game and during Oregon’s run in the NCAA basketball championship.  “We’ve shown we can entertain anywhere from eight to eighty eight folks,” Anderson declares, touting the booking potential of his premises…”come Christmas time next, this’ll really be ‘Party Central,’ .”  The Connection partners are currently installing a commercial catering kitchen in their complex to further their “all in one place” concept.  Multiple bar facilities to serve larger groups have already been well-tested.

Speaking of bars, Lorenz  (on the left in the photo) reveals that he and Anderson have agreed that the Portland area “has a real lack of true sports bars where you can sit in comfort and enjoy watching a game…the typical sports bar around here tends to be somewhat dumpy, definitely not upscale…not the stylish spectating places we’ve seen in other cities.”  He avers that “local bar owners depend too much on video poker for revenue, rather than creating a comfortable atmosphere where you can focus on the game on the screen.”  Lorenz says he and Anderson were “like kids in a candy factory,” when they visited one of the nation’s ultimate sports bars, The ESPN Zone in Las Vegas (surely a business research trip many a male would envy).

Multi-faceted business resource

A well-appointed conference room targets corporate groups, with teleconferencing a feature.  Anderson notes that corporate events traditionally follow a fixed pattern that often results in moving a group among three venues:  (1) a business meeting site, (2) a dining site and (4) a fun site, such as a golf course.  “Now a group can accomplish all these things under our one roof,” Anderson says.  He and Lorenz are targeting birthdays, bachelor parties and reunions as sales targets in addition to the business community.  They also intend to reach out to hotel concierges as a source of business traveler income.

Speaking of business, the Connections couple consider their facility one big interactive sales machine.  “Groups booked to date prove we’ve got a great sales atmosphere here…people are having fun, and business deals occur in a real relaxed manner,” Anderson points out.  Several displays alert visitors to the fact that cell phone sales and service and state-of-the-art home electronic installations are available here. 

Home connections

The residential wiring enterprise is Lorenz’s bailiwick, begun two years ago as Smart Connection.  Lorenz developed a network of contacts in the home builder ranks as a sales representative for major building supply manufacturers.  He now touts the “Smart Home” concept that entities such as Microsoft and General Electric are promoting.  This involves the use of the latest in electronic technology to provide an in-home network and central control of communications, computers, printers, audio/visual entertainment, security, lighting, utilities, heating and cooling.  The homeowner can program and interconnect multiple outlets for viewing, listening, surveillance and other activities…and soon will be able to control these functions from a cell phone, which is the device that reconnected Lorenz and Anderson.

Anderson formed Destination Wireless 1 ½ years ago, initially riding the cell phone craze by opening a chain of sales and service sites, which quickly grew to a total of eight.  This proved cumbersome to manage and morphed into a single location utilizing mobile vans to take cell phones to the customer.  Comparing notes, Anderson and Lorenz realized their respective business interests in ‘connections’ might be profitably combined.  Then there was another common interest, golf, to be entered into the mix…an enthusiasm proclaimed in the Connections venue with the 11-foot screen of virtual reality golf touring, an indoor putting green and a driving practice pad and screen. 

Into the swing of things

Prior to hawking cell phones, Anderson for seven years owned and operated “Eye on Golf,” a retail enterprise on Portland’s SE Grand Ave., adjacent to the East Bank Saloon sports bar.  This outlet for golf equipment and apparel included custom club design and manufacturing, a service being integrated into the “Connections” enterprise.  The peripatetic Anderson (at right in photo) has also been known to successfully promote music concerts.

The Connections partners honed a mutual golf interest as childhood hangers-on at the Corvallis Country Club.  The pair attended separate Corvallis high schools, losing touch with each other until several years later coincidence captured the moment they found each other living scarcely a block apart in Long Beach, CA.  Bill was selling materials to surfboard manufacturers and Steve was representing a carpeting and upholstery businessfollowing matriculation at Long Beach State and escape from the totally Oregon State Beaver atmosphere of his formative years.  Anderson’s father Jimmy served OSU as an assistant basketball coach during the Ralph Miller cage dynasty, becoming head man when Miller retired, a post he retained until his own retirement.

Southern California proved no permanent attraction for these Oregonians who took their sales skills back north and stayed in touch.  Now the pair have their money invested in their interests and experience.  Any time spent with these entrepreneurs underlines their
sales and promotional instincts.  A recent visit to their business site revealed a virtual army of exercise machines awaiting sale for a repossesor, with this extra income expected to buy the final touches for the Connections kitchen installation.

Food service will be a benefit for dues-paying members of the “Players Club.” The club enlists golfers with an established Oregon Golf Association (OGA) handicap and offers access to the recreation, entertainment and practice facilities in the Connections
venue, will organize members’ tours to actual links, stage putting and virtual reality golf tournaments and will feature a club logo on designer apparel.

Home wiring, cell phoning, sports viewing, party going, private clubbing, golfing…the kids from Corvallis are connecting these dots into what they believe will be a popular and profitable enterprise. 

© 2002 Oregon Magazine