Kalispell to begin negotiations on proposed hotel
The stage is set for Kalispell officials to begin negotiating the sale of the old Montana National Guard armory to an Ohio chain that wants to build a Hilton hotel at the site.
The City Council on Monday voted 7-2 to have City Manager Jim Patrick begin talks with Gateway Hospitality Group.
The vote does not approve a sale or the company's plans. But it starts efforts to create a proposed development agreement that will go through the city's planning board, public hearings and a final council vote.
Gateway wants to buy the 3.44-acre armory site - nestled next to Kalispell City Airport on U.S. 93 - for $1.216 million to build a four-story, 148-room Hilton Garden hotel, upscale Blue Canyon restaurant, 8,000-square-foot conference center capable of hosting 800 people, and a 2,000-square-foot casino.
The complex is expected to employ 112 to 121 people.
Gateway wants to lease 1.43 acres of adjacent city land for $10,000 a year for parking space.
On March 20, the council voted 5-2 to delay beginning negotiations until April 17, pending answers to some casino-related questions.
Council members Bob Herron, Randy Kenyon, Jim Atkinson, Duane Larson and Tim Kluesner voted for the delay. Bob Hafferman and Hank Olson wanted to vote March 20 on beginning talks. Mayor Pam Kennedy and Kari Gabriel were absent from that meeting.
The negotiations resolution surfaced on Monday because Gateway Chief Executive Officer Bob Voelker is anxious to start construction and to find out as soon as possible whether the council will approve the sale.
Gateway has worked on the proposal since spring 2005, but it didn't go to the council until a request for proposals produced only Gateway's plan by a Feb. 24 deadline.
Herron, Atkinson and Kluesner switched their March 20 stances to join Kennedy, Gabriel, Hafferman and Olson to tell Patrick to begin negotiations with Gateway.
Larson and Kenyon wanted to delay talks until at least April 17.
Kenyon voiced concern that once momentum builds up on the project, it would become hard for the council to stop - if the council decides it wants to halt it.
"Every time these things come up, we get the hustle from the developers," Kenyon said.
That was an apparent reference to the speed at which the council annexed the Old School Station industrial park two miles south of Kalispell in 2005. While the council overwhelmingly supported the industrial park, some council members and most planning-board members were unhappy about the fast-tracking of that annexation decision, which was made before several could digest and ponder information about the project.
Current issues pertaining to the Gateway project include:
-A casino is needed to defray the several-hundred-thousand-dollar cost of buying a liquor license. The complex would be across U.S. 93 from Lions Park, which brings up questions on whether the casino would violate zoning laws by being too close to the park. Some council members want a breakdown of Kalispell's entire casino situation so they can see how the Gateway casino fits into the overall picture.
. The hotel's proposed height is slightly less than 50 feet. A just-passed airport law limits buildings next to the Kalispell City Airport to 50 feet, but the city's zoning laws limit buildings in that area to 40 feet.
-Could a planned-unit district be created? This would be a contract in which some zoning limitations would be removed in exchange for other measures to compensate for the zoning changes.
-The site's proposed price is the minimum the city officially sought for the land. Is it worth more?
-Where would the $1.216 million be allocated within the city's coffers?
Reporter John Stang may be reached at 758-4429 or by e-mail at jstang@dailyinterlake.com