Coming soon: Theater with14 screens and lots of shopping

Moviegoers and shoppers, get ready for a new "lifestyle center."

The owners of Kalispell movie theaters plan to build a 14-screen movie theater complex and thousands of square feet of retail space on U.S. 93 between the Target store and Flathead Valley Community College.

Phil and Donna Harris, owners of the Gateway, Liberty and Strand theaters, plan to develop a $65 million complex that has entertainment, stores and restaurants.

The center, called Hutton Ranch Plaza, will include a 120-room hotel and office space. The development will have about 500,000 square feet of rentable space across 46 acres.

"A lifestyle center, that's really what this is," Phil Harris said.

He described a lifestyle center as a complex that contains various components such as entertainment, food and shopping.

Harris, 55, has developed numerous movie theaters through his company Signature Theatres and has helped develop shopping centers.

"But this is my first go-it-alone," he said.

The theaters will feature stadium seating, meaning better screen visibility and more leg room, and will seat a total of about 2,000 people. Movie ticket prices will be similar to what's charged currently at Kalispell theaters, although there might be a small increase, Harris said.

The theater complex alone is a $9 million project.

Harris plans to close or alter the use of the downtown Signature theaters and the Gateway screens.

Liberty Theatre will show art films and the 450-seat auditorium will be available for entertainment acts, such as live music, on the weekends. Strand Theatre will be converted to retail and/or office space.

The Gateway Cinemas will be torn down and probably developed as a hotel site.

The Hutton Ranch Plaza hotel will be along the lines of a Hampton Inn, Comfort Suites or Hilton Garden Inn, Harris said. He refrained from saying which hotel companies he has spoken with.

"We've been approached by every major chain," he said.

Negotiations with specific stores also aren't official yet, so Harris wouldn't say what retailers will occupy Hutton Ranch Plaza. Two or three of the stores will be department stores and other types of stores might take one of the larger spots, he said.

Plans filed with the Tri-City Planning Office show those spaces have 65,000 square feet or more. The design will feature open entrances for retailers rather than an enclosed mall design.

National and local restaurants want to join the plaza, Harris said, but the few liquor licenses available in Kalispell might pose a problem for some of them.

Hutton Ranch Road (hence the center's name) runs through the property and divides the project's two phases. The northern phase, which includes the theater, will be built first.

Construction could start by April 2006 and the theaters might open by Christmas 2006.

The project still needs to go through the city's planning process.

Harris seeks annexation and an initial zoning designation of general business, a change from the current county designation of suburban agriculture. He also needs a planned unit development for the plaza.

Plans call for a street to connect U.S. 93 to the property's eastern boundary. That street will align with a planned road on the other side of U.S. 93 south of Lowe's where the new Costco building will go; the intersection will have a traffic light.

Harris submitted a traffic study along with his annexation request.

The study, done by a Billings company, shows the complex will add 21,400 trips per day once the complex is completed. Full build-out will take five to seven years.

The project will go to the city planning board June 14.

Harris initially envisioned a residential subdivision on the acreage he owned east of Target.

But as he looked into that idea, he decided he needed some land owned by the college. He approached the college about that land and the two parties eventually decided a land swap would be more advantageous to both, Harris said.

The college agreed to swap 25 acres along U.S. 93 for 110 acres of Harris's land. Despite the big difference in acreage, the properties' values were about equal, Harris said. He also will give the college $300,000 for the difference in appraisal values.

The college has approved the land deal, but it won't be finalized until Harris receives annexation and the desired zoning.

Harris and his wife formed a new company, Three Rivers Land and Development, for the Hutton Ranch Plaza venture. They are in the process of relocating from northern California to Kalispell.

Reporter Camden Easterling can be reached at 758-4429 or by e-mail at ceasterling@dailyinterlake.com