Hello, Hilton

By NANCY KIMBALL

New hotel opens June 25 at south end of Kalispell

The Daily Inter Lake

Hilton Garden Inn is poised to make a big splash on the Flathead convention scene in two weeks.

Officials will cut the ribbon at 4 p.m. June 25 on the new $21 million hotel complex along U.S. 93 in south Kalispell.

Then at 6 p.m., hotel management will begin handing scissors to each of the inn's inaugural guests who will snip the ribbons fastened across their own doors on the eve of the Montana Career Clusters Conference.

On June 26, the rest of the hotel's 144 guest rooms will be filled as educators and business leaders from across the state converge on Kalispell for the three-day meeting.

Hilton General Manager Jay Wildgen promises to deliver a top-drawer experience on the day those conference attendees arrive, from luxurious air beds to a state-of-the-art business support center.

But on Tuesday last week, rooms full of exposed framing, bare drywall, uncut carpet and unfinished landscaping begged the question of readiness.

Just 20 days away from opening, Wildgen shrugged off the clatter and clang of construction still echoing through all four floors of the 118,000-square-foot project.

"We'll be ready," Wildgen said.

His confidence is rooted in experience.

It's the Kalispell native's fourth hotel opening, although his first as general manager. And, he said, the Hilton chain has a track record of meeting projected opening dates.

By the time the final polish is put on the last granite countertop, 10,500 square yards of carpet, more than 5,700 square yards of vinyl wall covering and uncounted squares of hand-laid tile will add a level of sophistication for which Hilton hotels are known.

Gateway Hospitality Group and longtime hotel businessman Joe Guibault of Lakeside developed the hotel property, which is owned by Kalispell Hotel, a limited liability corporation that includes both Gateway and Guibault.

Kalispell's Hilton Garden Inn features three entities wrapped into one eight-acre package:

. The convention center offers 14,000 square feet of meeting space. That includes an 8,600-square-foot ballroom that can be subdivided with air walls into four smaller spaces, plus "the only true pre-function space in the valley," Wildgen said.

Its capacity to host 700-person banquets and Hilton's reputation for quality food, coupled with the number and caliber of its guest rooms, already have drawn bookings for about 50 groups and tours as far out as 2009.

Another 60-plus events, with anywhere from 30 to 500 attendees each, have been booked.

. Opening July 16 are the airline-themed Blue Canyon Kitchen and Tavern and the Silver Canyon Casino on the south. It has its own entrance into a great room, a kitchen with a clear view of display cooking, a private dining area, an outdoor patio facing onto the Kalispell city airfield and a horseshoe bar in the tavern.

The casino will feature live poker.

Gaining city approval for a casino and tavern directly across the highway from the kid-friendly Lions Park was essential to making the cost of a liquor license pencil out, Wildgen said. The five-lane U.S. 93 serves as a natural barrier between the park and casino, he added.

. A pavilion entry to the hotel wing on the north opens to another restaurant - The Great American Grill serving breakfast - and a soft seating area. Overhead inside the main entry, Kalispell artist Roc Corbett's distinctive chandeliers will be changed out periodically.

A business center behind the lobby will have two full work stations and technology to print documents sent from personal computers in guest rooms. A pair of hospitality suites, a 1,500-square-foot fitness room, a large pool and spa, and guest rooms finish out the first floor.

Nine suites and three guest rooms with spas are included across the four floors.

All rooms are equipped with wireless and wired high-speed Internet access. The entire facility is nonsmoking, with the exception of five rooms on the fourth floor.

General contractor Maurer Construction of Missoula subcontracted 40 Flathead Valley firms employing about 250 workers on the project.

Wildgen said about 140 will be on the payroll - 20 in management and the rest at entry-level. All management and supervisors have been hired, with convention staff to be on board by the end of the month.

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