Outlaw Inn changes hands

The Outlaw Inn may be returning to its classic ways.

Kalispell Hospitality Co. finalized an agreement with Red Lion Hotels on Thursday to buy the WestCoast Outlaw Inn.

Bryan Scott, 24, president and chief executive officer of Kalispell Hospitality Co., announced the deal on Friday along with remodeling plans for the 218-room hotel.

The New Outlaw Inn will operate independent of a corporate flag and no longer will be affiliated with the WestCoast Hotel brand.

Scott, a Kalispell resident, said he sees a lot of potential for the hotel built in the 1970s.

"It's the historical presence of the Outlaw," Scott said from his office at the junction of U.S. 93 and 18th Street.

"To me, it's the gateway of Kalispell," he said of the hotel on 10 acres at Kalispell's south end. "It appears as being one of the oldest operations in town with a potential to be profitable. But the historical aspects are the reason we bought it."

He's already listened to memories of wedding receptions held at the Outlaw 30 years ago, of the adults who once visited there as children, of those who remember the stuffed bear that inhabited the lobby.

Now Scott and his partners are ready to help patrons make some new memories.

Kalispell Hospitality partners - Scott, his grandfather Gerald Scott, and Guy and Pat Lavoie - plan a complete remodeling over the next one to two years that will bring the Outlaw "back up to a quality hotel," Scott said, "more classy like it used to be."

The signature mustache logo will remain, as will the heart of the hotel but with an updated name, The New Outlaw Inn.

The partners plan a phased renovation, starting later this year by upgrading bedding and carpets and tending to deferred major repair and maintenance. As they aim for a classic-Western, clean design blending old and new, the hotel's block exterior will stay but will be enhanced with trim materials.

Eco-friendly solutions and energy conservation will be near the top of the priority list, with native materials used in the public areas and guest rooms. State-of-the-art business suites will be offered, plus wireless high-speed Internet access in public areas and every guest room.

The New Outlaw Inn also will retain the 14,000 square feet of meeting space, lounge, casino, tennis court, racquetball courts and two indoor pools.

The company intends to add other amenities down the road. Just what the headline attraction will be remains up in the air, but it will be "something you would find in an amusement park," Scott said Friday.

Scott said the hotel purchase talks had flown under the radar until Friday.

Mountain West Bank was a key player in making the deal go through, Scott said. President Rick Hart was in on the process from the beginning.

"It would have been impossible without Mountain West Bank," Scott said. "They see this property has great potential and they want to be in on that potential as much as possible. And they're in here because building this project will be great for the community."

Scott said the hotel "is a strong product even as it stands today." It's the right size for the area, he said, and offers many of the same amenities as higher-end hotels but for a lower nightly cost to travelers.

Scott is just 24 years old but already has a history with developing properties in Idaho and Montana.

He was born in Wyoming, spent much of his life in Idaho, and moved to Montana in 1995.

As a financial broker and entrepreneur, he launched the Flathead Financial Group, an independent financial planning and services company.

Although he has not developed other properties in this area, he said the Scott family has been involved in a number of businesses over time and carried out many projects in Idaho.

He and his grandfather helped finance Eastside Brick, a mixed-used commercial and residential renovation of Kalispell's old Courthouse East.

Earlier this year, Kalispell Hospitality Co. also tried to buy the old Libby high school building to renovate into a project similar to Eastside Brick. But Scott said they were stymied when a Libby business owner got a court order putting a hold on the sale, demanding the school prove the legality of its resolution to sell the property.

Reporter Nancy Kimball can be reached at 758-4483 or by e-mail at nkimball@dailyinterlake.com