Hutton Ranch ready to roll

Construction starts in July for new retail center

The first visible construction of the Hutton Ranch Plaza - which is expected to include a hotel, movie-theater complex and a new Sportsman & Ski Haus store - should surface in July.

The hotel is a 115- to 120-room Hilton Homestead Suites along the east side of the site. Developer Phil Harris hopes to finish signing up that hotel this week for the retail center along U.S. 93 in north Kalispell.

Kalispell could end up with two Hilton hotels, because the city and another developer are in the last stage of negotiations for a 148-room Hilton Garden Inn in southern Kalispell.

The Kalispell City Council approved the final conditions Monday to allow Harris to begin construction on roughly 30 acres of the 46-acre Hutton Ranch site, which is on U.S. 93 between Flathead Valley Community College and Mountain View Plaza.

The land along the north, west and east sides of the site has owners and tenants signed up, Harris said. He is still negotiating leases for the remaining 16 acres. Right now, the 46-acre site is essentially a graded brown field with trailers on it.

Harris expects significant construction to begin in the first half of July, with businesses opening in the spring and summer of 2007. He hopes to begin construction on the remaining 16 acres by

summer 2007.

Besides the prospective Hilton Home Suites, other businesses and buildings confirmed for the plaza include:

-A 14-screen movie theater.

-A 5,000-square-foot First Interstate Bank branch.

-A 17,000-square-foot small-shops building capable of holding 15 tenants.

-A 12,000-square-foot, two-story office building.

-A 4,500-square-foot Mongolian restaurant.

-A Sportsman & Ski Haus store.

Reporter John Stang may be reached at 758-4429 or by e-mail at jstang@dailyinterlake.com