Decade was boom for housing, retail growth

Flathead County is leaving the first decade of the 21st century with several years of unprecedented growth under its belt.

The county’s population swelled by 18 percent from 2000 to 2008. Construction was so fast-paced four years ago it was difficult to find enough workers to do all the building. And commercial growth swept through all areas of the Flathead, most notably in Kalispell where the north side of the city saw burgeoning retail development in Spring Prairie Center and Hutton Ranch Plaza.

Despite a rise and fall in the job market, the Flathead’s population never stopped its steady growth throughout the decade. It started off the decade at 74,710 and climbed steadily until it topped 80,600 by 2004.

It took only three more years to add that same number of residents, with another 5,900 added by 2007. Census figures estimated the Flathead’s population at 88,473 on July 1, 2008.

The lion’s share of that growth came in Kalispell alone, where its population of 14,200 people in 2000 burgeoned to an estimated 20,600 in 2009.

Population growth itself, perhaps, tells the recent story of the Flathead Valley.

Because of what Kalispell Planning Director Tom Jentz identifies as the allure of the intermountain west, urban flight from the population centers and the Flathead’s natural beauty, people continue to settle in the area.

It was largely due to the Flathead’s ability to draw new people — both full-time residents and second-home owners — that the area experienced unprecedented growth in housing starts and newly platted subdivisions.

The boom years of 2004 through 2007 and into early 2008 found builders anxious to feed a seemingly insatiable market. More than $1 billion in commercial and residential property changed hands in Northwest Montana in 2005.

In Whitefish, the median price of a home in 2005 was $319,000; in Lakeside it was $274,900; in Bigfork $297,400.

Lakefront property was a hot commodity, and by 2006 the going rate for property on Whitefish Lake was $20,000 a frontage foot — $2 million for a 100-foot lot.

At mid-decade subdivision development and residential construction activity across the county maintained a frenzied pace despite a slight drop in the number of lots created.

Flathead County commissioners and the Kalispell, Whitefish and Columbia Falls city councils gave final plat approval to 1,341 subdivision lots that year. It was a 13 percent drop from the record-high 1,547 lots created in 2004 and the first year-over-year decline since 1998, but it was still the second-highest number of platted lots approved in the Flathead.

Add to that the 2,411 lots receiving preliminary approval in 2005, an increase of 26 percent from the year before, and it could have set the stage for a glut of vacant land.

But demand kept a healthy pace with supply, as 1,264 new single-family homes were built in Flathead County in 2005.

Skip ahead two years, to 2007. The total number of subdivisions approved for preliminary and final plat dropped by more than 50 percent in the county and the three cities, but the size of development projects more than made up the difference.

Kalispell gave preliminary plat approval to 12 subdivisions in 2007, the same as 2006. But the number of lots spiked from 322 approved in 2006, up to an incredible 804 lots approved in 2007. Acreage in those developments more than tripled to 579.

By 2008 it leveled off somewhat, with the early-year development vigor slacking drastically by late fall.

Kalispell approved four preliminary subdivision plats and 460 lots that year. Another 13 subdivisions received final plat approval, putting 252 more lots on the market. And it annexed 570 more acres into the city.

Builders followed through by applying for and receiving 272 building permits in 2008, with 203 of them for residential purposes alone. There were 186 new single-family, duplex and multi-family units among those Kalispell permits, coming in at a total value of $25.6 million in new residential construction for the year.

Those levels, true to predictions from planners at the time, were not sustainable.

In Kalispell, housing starts were expected to be somewhere around 100 during 2009. Acres of land annexed during the early subdivision-development stages across the city now sit empty.

There are 840 platted lots on that vacant land, with a third of them in the high-end Silverbrook.

Remove them from the equation and the remaining 500 or so lots represent a five-year supply in today’s market. Another 1,300 lots are in the preliminary plat process, a 10-year supply in today’s market. Some are bound to drop out of the process.

Today’s picture tells the tale of the national economic downturn that’s come home to roost.

Following about three fiscal quarters behind the rest of the nation, the Flathead’s economy started deflating in fall 2008. Housing starts dropped to a trickle and unemployment rose to 12.7 percent by March 2009, the third highest in the state.

COMMERCIAL development also progressed at a record pace for much of the decade. A string of box stores sprang up on Kalispell’s north side — Lowe’s, Costco, Home Depot, Target and Best Buy to name a few. Signature Theatres built a 14-screen multiplex nearby and Sportsman & Ski Haus built an impressive new store in the same area.

Kalispell Regional Medical Center vastly expanded and improved its facilities, and nearby, thousands of square feet of new retail and office space were created in the Commons Way area. On Kalispell’s south side, commercial growth was evident, too, with a new Rosauer’s store, relocation of Kalispell Toyota to U.S. 93 South and construction of the Hilton Garden Inn. Old School Station came into being on the south side of Kalispell, with 17 business lots on 60 acres anchored by Fun Beverage.

 North Valley Hospital relocated and built a new facility at a medical campus on the southern edge of Whitefish. Whitefish had plenty of retail growth of its own, including a new Safeway grocery store, the addition of Walgreens and many new commercial facilities including The Wave fitness center on Baker Avenue.

Not to be outdone, Columbia Falls kept up with commercial growth, too, as a new Western Building Center came into being, along with a Super 1 Foods, Freedom Bank and plenty of new businesses along the U.S. 2 corridor.

One significant commercial development that didn’t materialize was Bucky Wolford’s proposed Glacier Town Center planned on 486 acres between U.S. 93 and Whitefish Stage Road. The project was stymied by legal challenges and by the time the path was cleared the national recession was already nipping at the Flathead’s heels.

As 2009 comes to a close, commercial growth has slowed to a crawl. One bright spot: a Walmart Supercenter that will open next summer in Hutton Ranch Plaza. With 176,000 square feet, it will be Kalispell’s largest building.