Boise Mayor David Bieter hopes a city-owned launching pad for entrepreneurs will boost green energy projects in the Valley.

"It'll help create jobs more than anything else we could do," Bieter said.

The Green House at 5th and Idaho streets will be modeled after the success of the WaterCooler. That nonprofit Boise small business incubator offers inexpensive rent and support services for businesses so small they might just need a desk and wireless Internet for a few hours each week.

The first tenants are expected by the end of the year.

"This is another great example of Mayor Bieter's leadership," said Rich Rayhill, a wind developer with Ridgeline Energy. "Not only will it stimulate entrepreneurial activity, it'll show people outside Boise that Boise is serious about green tech jobs."

The WaterCooler opened in May 2008 in the former Boise Heating &Cooling building on the corner of 14th and Idaho and is close to having some of its small startups "graduate" to new offices.

The man who started it, though, was taken aback that the first he heard about this similar facility was in Bieter's State of the City speech Wednesday morning.

"It's a bit of a surprise that we have a new competitor in town," said Mark Rivers, who also developed BoDo and recently hosted a green energy business seminar.

"If we're going to have facilities of this genre, it would make sense to cluster them, not put them wherever there's a vacant space."

The city, which is also an investor in the WaterCooler, sees the two as complementary.

"There is plenty of room (in the market)," said Boise Economic Development Director Cece Gassner, who is in charge of the Green House project. "Our space is much smaller."

The soon-to-be vacant building at 520 W. Idaho. currently houses the Water Quality Division of the Department of Public Works.

The nearly 3,500 square feet is divided into seven offices and two common areas, Gassner said. The walls are cement, so they won't be moved.

In August, city employees will move into spaces at City Hall Downtown made available by the opening of City Hall West, Bieter said.

Bieter doesn't think the public facility will take potential tenants away from the WaterCooler.

The Green House may become the first phase of an entrepreneur's development, he said, and the WaterCooler would be the next phase, before entrepreneurs go out on their own.

This kind of upward mobility is key to maintaining a thriving economy and part of what Bieter called "churn" in his speech - an economic term that looks at the number of business startups and failures as a percentage of total businesses.

Idaho ranks fourth in the nation for churn, a positive economic indicator because it signals a culture of experimentation, a spirit of innovation and a willingness to take risks, he said.

Gassner said city officials didn't know yet how much taxpayers will have to pay to boost this churn through the Green House. The city is looking at partnerships with the private sector and other government and business entities, she said.

Since the city owns the building, one big cost is already out of the way, she added.

In addition to office space, the Green House will offer support services like accounting and legal help -services the city is hoping to have donated. But entrepreneurs will be on their own to develop their ideas.

"The last thing an entrepreneur wants is someone in local government to tell them how to run their business," Gassner said.

Bethann Stewart: 377-6393