Bob Shallit: Former south state outdoors firm expanding its horizons

A transplanted Southern California company is getting ready to break away from the pack.

Literally.

Gregory Mountain Products, a designer and manufacturer of top-quality backpacks, intends to diversify, now that it's severed ties with its former corporate owners and set up headquarters in downtown Sacramento.

What kind of new ventures? "Any and all," says President John Simons, one of three investors who engineered last year's buyout of the company, whose product line is sold only through retailers such as REI.

The expansion will come through acquisition of national companies that are outdoors-oriented, Simons says. Look for the first deals "in the near future," he says.

Meantime, Gregory's staff of 25 is settling into the former Pacific Bell switching center at 1414 K St. after moving here from Temecula. It's strictly a wholesale operation, but the company has plans to start selling its backpacks directly to consumers.

The 9,000-square-foot space, with exposed concrete pillars and huge skylights, was an immediate hit with Gregory execs. "We liked the industrial rawness of it," says marketing chief Jim BoisD'Enghien.

Why was Sacramento selected over Boulder, Colo.; Salt Lake City; and other outdoorsy cities? One reason is its proximity to the Sierra, where employees can field-test the company's packs, execs say. Another attraction: the community's interest in outdoor activities and a green lifestyle, says company founder Wayne Gregory.

"I've never been in a place," he says, "where there are so many bikes." Besides Davis, that is.

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Wide load: Look for a parade of homes moving down J street today, eliminating the last obstacle to Mercy General Hospital's expansion plans in east Sac.

The hospital needed to relocate four single-family homes sitting on land it acquired across 39th Street from its medical complex. Two homes were removed earlier this year.

Now, Sacramento contractor Jim Hodgson has agreed to relocate the other two.

"It's the best outcome possible to have saved all four homes," says Mercy spokeswoman Wendy Hoyt.

Early this morning, Hodgson will mount the houses on flatbed trucks, then begin transporting them south on 39th Street and east on J. One will end up on an empty lot at 1915 48th St., the other at 4229 F St.

Hoyt says moving the last two houses clears the way for site work on a new campus for Sacred Heart Parish School. Once the new school is completed in late 2009, Mercy will demolish the existing campus, which adjoins the medical center. It'll be replaced by a 20-unit apartment complex, part of the hospital's longer-term $170 million expansion.

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What the L: Chalk it up to a moment of feeblemindedness. Our item Wednesday about mayoral candidate Kevin Johnson moving into a midtown condo project cited his new home, the L Street Lofts, as being at 18th and K streets.

It's on L Street, of course.

Just for the record, the B Street Theatre is on B street, the G Street Cafe is on G, and Freeport Bakery is on Freeport Boulevard.

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Out on a Limn: It makes us feel better that others make silly mistakes, too. Like the North Sac Chamber, whose online newsletter this month touts today's open house for the new Greens Hotel, which it says is being opened by "innovator Dan Limn."

The boutique hotel's founder actually is Dan Friedlander, owner of the San Francisco-based Limn furniture company, which has an outlet not far from the new hotel.

As for mangling his last name, "It's not the first time that's happened," says Friedlander. "A lot of people think (Limn) is owned by a Chinese guy."

Friedlander is hoping for a good turnout at the hotel's open house, which runs from 3 to 10 p.m.

The 30-room hotel, at 1700 Del Paso Blvd., may strike some as an unlikely venture – a trendy lodge in a rough-hewn neighborhood.

But Friedlander thinks guests will be attracted by Del Paso's "idiosyncratic" qualities, along with the salon, clothing boutique, theater and restaurants that are part of the Greens complex. The hotel itself boasts room service, a lap pool, meeting rooms and this cool feature: Each guest room will feature paintings by "up-and-coming" local artists.

Says Friedlander: "I don't think there's a boutique hotel in San Francisco that's any more interesting."

About the writer:

• Reach Bob Shallit at (916) 321-1049. Back columns: www.sacbee.com/shallit.