Expansion work begins on mall hotel
Kalispell Center Mall has been a prominent part of the city's downtown landscape
for the past 20 years.
Kalispell Center Mall has been a prominent part of the city's downtown landscape for the past 20 years.
On Monday, it took its first official step toward maintaining that role in the future, with a groundbreaking ceremony for the expansion and renovation of the Kalispell Center Hotel.
The $5 million project, which should be completed next summer, includes a complete renovation of the 132-room hotel as well as the addition of 38 new rooms.
A new main entrance will also be built facing Main Street.
"We entered into a partnership with Kalispell 20 years ago, and it's been a very successful partnership. Now, we're looking at the next stage in our evolution," said Art Coffey, president and chief executive officer of Red Lion Hotels Corp., formerly WestCoast Hospitality Corp.
John Taffin, executive vice president for hotel operations, said the company intends to make Kalispell Center "the jewel of the Flathead."
The existing Red Lion Inn on the west side of town was sold earlier this year and will be change its name by the end of February, Taffin said. Kalispell Center will assume the Red Lion brand at that time.
"We want it to be the best hotel in the market," he said.
The hotel expansion is the first in a series of changes planned for Kalispell Center, Coffey said. The retail area also will be renovated and possibly expanded to revitalize the property and help maintain and strengthen its presence downtown.
"We still have a passion for downtown Kalispell," he said. "We're making a multimillion-dollar investment here because we believe in [the area]. We want to embrace downtown and merge with the history there."
Red Lion's partner in this revitalization effort will be GVD Commercial Properties of Spokane, which acquired
a 50 percent interest in the Kalispell Center property in July.
"They have extensive experience in retail development and bring the expertise to make this project flourish," Coffey said. "Red Lion will focus on what we know best, which is hotels."
Gerald Vance Dicker, president of GVD, has a number of ideas for improving the mall, including the possibility of locating the proposed Glacier Performing Arts Center nearby.
"If we have enough land, I'd recommend to my partners that we just give it to the performing arts center," he said. "I'd like to see a greater emphasis here on the arts and on the Montana lifestyle."
Dicker also hopes to inspire more crossover traffic between the mall and Main Street businesses, possibly by adding a new building near the intersection of Main and Center streets.
He'd like to change some of the mall signs as well to make it easier for pedestrians and visitors to see what stores are inside.
Of course, he'd like to expand some tenants and provide room for other new tenants, too, but he cautioned that all of these ideas depend on market forces and to some extent on city officials.
Overall, Dicker wants Kalispell Center to be more of a retail anchor for downtown Kalispell, drawing people and business to the area.
"We need to turn this into a gathering place," he said.
Whether this revitalization effort proves any more successful than other, similar expansions that Red Lion has proposed remains to be seen.
Monday's ceremony was markedly different from any previous announcements, though, in that it was accompanied by actual excavation work.
"Everything takes time," Kalispell Mayor Pam Kennedy said on Monday. "But know that the ground has been broken."
Reporter Bill Spence may be reached at 758-4459 or by e-mail at bspence@dailyinterlake.com