Spokane entrepreneur Pete Chase, who is perhaps best known as a co-founder of telecommunications cabinet manufacturer Purcell Systems Inc., is leading a new venture that he claims could become even bigger than Purcell ever was.

The new startup, EasyStreet Systems Inc., makes proprietary, lightweight composite poles for installation in small cell networks.

Chase notes that EasyStreet is poised for exponential growth here just as the company that acquired Purcell over a decade ago is moving its Spokane Valley operations to Bellingham, Washington. As the Journal reported in November, Reading, Pennsylvania-based EnerSys has announced plans to shutter Purcell’s Spokane Valley plant and lay off 77 employees, beginning this week.

EasyStreet was founded in 2022 by Chase, the company’s CEO, and Ken Harrison, its chief technology officer. Harrison is a 40-year veteran of the telecom industry, having served a 13-year tenure as vice president of AT&T Mobility’s West Region network service.

The company is based in the former Mountain Gear warehouse, at 6021 E. Mansfield in Spokane Valley. EasyStreet, which also has an office in the United Kingdom, currently has 10 employees but plans to increase its workforce as orders ramp up, Chase says.

“The effort up until now has been in the design, and that design is patented,” he says. “Were taking off right now. We’re starting to ship volume orders.”

Chase declines to disclose current projected revenue, but says he expects the company will be profitable this year.

He says Purcell recorded $140 million in revenue in 2013, the year it was sold.

“We think we could do that or beyond over the next several years,” he says. “It’s the same market, bigger opportunities.”

Chase says the global market for small cell structures is in the millions of units.

“True 5G uses extremely high frequencies,” he says. “They’re great for massive amounts of data and speed, but the signal doesn’t go very far. So typically, a small cell will be needed about every 800 feet.”

In addition to supporting the fifth generation of telecommunications technology, EasyStreet has conducted smart city installations that incorporate environmental sensors, traffic control, weather monitoring, “and anything that has to get up in the air,” Chase says.

EasyStreet’s target market will be private networks, such as those operated by large manufacturers, port districts, and college campuses, he says.

“If we get just a small percentage of the small cell market globally, it's going to be a great local story,” he says.

The name EasyStreet refers to easy installation of small cell structures.

Small cell towers typically are 20-feet to 50-feet tall.

EasyStreet’s Harrison says a 30-foot-tall, 9.75-inch-diameter EasyStreet pole made of fiber-reinforced polymer weighs 180 pounds and has the strength of a steel pole of the same size weighing over 1,000 pounds.

The poles can be installed by a two-person crew, which is about half the size of a crew needed to install a metal pole, he says.

Harrison says the poles are manufactured in Alabama for U.S. operations and in Finland for the company’s European installations. In the U.S., the poles are shipped to the Spokane Valley facility for finishing work, such as application of an ultra violet light-protective coating and custom integration.

“If a customer wants holes cut in the pole, wants light attachment holes, and wants conduit run up the middle, we do all the integration work right here,” Harrison says.

Chase says EasyStreet has new applications designed for electric vehicle maker Tesla Inc.

“EV charging needs communications, so we’re providing small cell towers to Tesla,” he says. “In the U.K, we’re actually integrating the EV charger into the base of the pole, along with communications equipment.”

Chase says he also remains active in Columbia International Finance LLC, a company that he launched in 2014 as an EB-5 regional center through which foreign investors can invest in large projects in exchange for opportunities for accelerated permanent U.S. residency.

For example, Columbia International Financing was involved in providing $30 million in financing the $330 million, 38-story, mixed-use building now named The Modern, which recently was erected by prominent Seattle developer Martin Selig in Seattle’s Belltown neighborhood. Chase says the project attracted investors from China, India, U.K., Cambodia, and other countries.

Chase adds that Columbia Financing International also has brought some EB-5 Investment to EasyStreet.