Ten years ago, Jeff Keane, who was then 35, started a production company to design and produce corporate videos, television ads and websites. He rented office loft space on North 10th Street in downtown St. Louis. He called his company Coolfire Media. He had two employees.

He chose a downtown location for a couple of reasons. He liked the urban ambience. Also, he wanted to be close to his clients.

In those days, when people connected to the ad business spoke of clients, they meant Anheuser-Busch. In fact, the brewery was one of Keane's major clients. That wasn't surprising. He was an alum of Busch Creative Services.

But he was constantly expanding his client list, and by the time the brewery went into a cost-cutting mode, Coolfire Media was no longer dependent on the brewery's largesse.

Instead, Coolfire Media was growing, bubbling along under the radar.

In the last couple of years, that growth has accelerated dramatically. Two new companies have spun off from Coolfire Media — Coolfire Solutions and Coolfire Originals.

Coolfire Solutions develops mobile applications for the government. Coolfire Media had been doing apps of various sorts for corporate clients. Why not use the same technology for the military?

One of Solutions' first applications allows a user to point his cellphone toward the sky and make contact with a specific satellite. Think of a small unit out in the boonies with a mobile radar system.

Solutions is two years old and already financially successful.

But it is the second spinoff company that is the most exciting, or at least the most easily understood by nontechies. Coolfire Originals develops and produces television shows. Its first program is "Welcome to Sweetie Pie's," a show centered on Robbie Montgomery's soul food restaurant in the Grove neighborhood. The unscripted reality show — Keane and his staff like to call it a "docu-series" — is about to begin its second season on the Oprah Winfrey Network.

Originals developed the idea and co-produces the show with a Los Angeles company. Originals has several other programs in the pipeline and hopes to produce at least some of them on its own.

At a time when so much of our downtown business news is glum — and people like me tend to stress the negative — I thought it would be a welcome change of pace to look in on a successful venture.

I visited Coolfire this week and met with Keane, Tim Breitbach and Steve Luebbert. Breitbach is vice president of original programming for Originals, and Luebbert is vice president of development.

The three Coolfire companies currently share 15,000 square feet of space in the business loft on 10th Street. There are 45 full-time employees. The number of full-timers has about doubled in two years and does not count the production teams that Coolfire Media hires for commercials. Coolfire is acquiring another 15,000 square feet a block west, on Washington Avenue. Renovations should begin in a month.

Does St. Louis have a future in the television production industry?

Absolutely, said my three hosts. They said two of their projects were already in the production stage. One is a series for the Discovery Channel, and the other is a pilot for Nickelodeon. These are shows about St. Louisans, and developed and produced by St. Louisans. With St. Louis investors, too. Joe Buck and Nelly are among that group.

Keane grew up in Webster Groves. He went to Miami University in Ohio and worked for a television station in Kentucky before coming home. He is married and has five kids.

Breitbach is 47 and grew up in Dubuque, Iowa. He went to Iowa State University and co-founded an ad agency in San Francisco. His brother works for St. Louis University, and his parents now live here, too.

Luebbert is 30. Like Keane, he grew up in Webster Groves and went to Miami University in Ohio. After graduating, he went to Los Angeles. He was working in comedy development for ABC before he returned to St. Louis.

"This is one of the benefits of doing this in St. Louis," Keane told me later as he showed me around the office. "There are a lot of people who go to the coasts for opportunity but would rather be here. We have the pick of them."

He's expanding his business downtown. Has the city been a good place to operate a business?

Keane nodded. He said he still loves being downtown. He said there have been no problems with the city. How about any assistance? We haven't asked for any help, he said.