Chuck Platt

We are people that want to make a difference! We believe that through design, things can be done better for more people than they are currently being done. This is about making changes to the “System” from the inside-out.

My name is Chuck Platt, the following is some information about me and some of my history.

Married : August 5, 1967 to Janet (Cline)
Three children : Nicole, Kristine & Jonathan
Three Grandchildren : Israel, Isaiah & Winston

Born March 25, 1946 in Bangor, Maine. My father was teaching at the University of Maine at the time.

We moved to East Lansing, Michigan where my sister Jeanne was born and my dad was teaching at Michigan State University.

We moved to Iowa City, Iowa when I started the 1st grade. My dad was working on his PHD and this was also the location where my dad and mom met when he was working on his Master’s Degree and my mom was working on her Registered Nursing Degree.

The program at Iowa wasn’t quite what my dad was looking for so we moved to Denver, Colorado so he could finish his degree at the University of Denver.

We moved back to East Lansing, Michigan when I was in the third grade, where my dad started teaching again at Michigan State University. My brother Bill was born there and we stayed through the sixth-grade.

That summer, we spent in Billings, Montana while my dad taught at Eastern Montana College.

That fall, we moved to Kirksville, Missouri where my dad had taken a job at Northeast Missouri State Teachers College.

In the summer of 1959, we moved back to Billings, Montana where my dad took a job at Eastern Montana College where he stayed for eight years. During that time I went through grades 8-12 and two years at Eastern Montana College and my brother Jim was born.

In 1966, my parents moved to Modesto, California where my dad had taken a job at Stanislaus State College. I stayed in Billings and have lived here ever since.

Working Career Management & Service
I started working with my father-in-law, Jack Cline at the Big Sky Linen Supply in the summer of 1967. I started on a route, trained in a Canadian Linen plant in Vancouver, BC, worked in sales, service, washroom, plant manager and general manager for 3 ½ years following the death of my father-in-law.

During the time at Big Sky, in addition to specialized training, I worked with management consultants and industry specialists at a time when our business was changing from laundering other people’s linen to providing linen and industrial service to our customers.

At the time of my father-in-law’s death in 1974, we had just lost our two biggest laundry accounts, the Deaconess Hospital and the Billings Clinic which amounted to one-half of our total poundage and one-third of our total dollar volume. The Deaconess and St. Vincent’s Hospitals had built their own laundry together.

Our business had changed. We were now primarily in the rental linen and industrial service business and we set out to recapture the sales that we had lost. We realigned our plant equipment and layout to provide better production flow throughout the plant. We increased our sales dramatically in both linen, and industrial uniforms and dust control rugs and mops. The business came through the transition and continues to be one of the premier linen and industrial service providers in the state.

Real Estate
I started in the real estate business in 1980 and I have experience in residential, commercial and business brokerage, land & building development, investment properties, IRC 1031 exchanges, leasing, property management, strategic planning & problem solving and buyer representation. I am also experienced working with different forms of government including; city, county, state and federal agencies. I have made many successful presentations to the city council and county commissioners on zoning, platting, special reviews and development projects.

Some of my projects include:

  • Cherry Creek Townhomes – 48 unit one & two level townhomes involved from the concept, design, construction and a member of the sales team through completion.
  • Yellowstone Construction, Ltd. Co. – 50% partner in a construction company that built single family homes.
  • Parkhill Plaza Condominiums – 7 unit office condominiums that involved a zone change, lifting deed restrictions, design, pre-leasing & selling units through completion.
  • King’s Green Subdivision – Public/Private Partnership between the City of Billings and Yellowstone Construction, Ltd. Co. (later Real Estate Dynamics, Inc.) to develop 13 acres of City of Billings owned property using Federal HOME Funds, to develop 48 Affordable Houses. Involved with the initial concept, design, plating, construction and sales through the first two phases (25 homes).
  • Beanery Bar & Grill – Developed a bar & grill in a Historic Train Depot Building. Starting from the ground up, gutted the building, added all new HVAC, electrical, plumbing, remodeling, all furniture, fixtures and equipment and opened for business June 2000.

Services Offered
I am a “Generalist” when it comes to Commercial Real Estate. With the size of our market, we end up working a great variety of different types of Commercial Real Estate.

My specialty is “Hospitality Brokerage.” I work with Restaurants, Bars, Casino’s, Licenses, Motel’s & Hotels. I am a member of the AMHB, American Motel Hotel Brokers network and the Montana Tavern Owners Association.

Consultant is the best way of describe my relationship with clients. I assist Buyers looking for an existing business, needing a license, a site location for sale or lease to open a new business, or wanting to develop a new concept. I assist Sellers on the sale of existing Hospitality businesses.