Lodge launches $5 million expansion

The owners of The Lodge at Whitefish Lake are breaking ground today on a $5 million hotel expansion and skywalk.

At the same time they will hand over a 30-acre wetlands set-aside to the Whitefish Lake Institute for a conservation preserve. The preservation of those wetlands - a crucial drainage corridor to Whitefish Lake - culminates a long effort by Friends of Wisconsin Wetlands.

Sean Averill, who along with Dan Averill and Brian Averill own The Lodge at Whitefish Lake and are the developers of the Viking Creek project, will serve as construction manager for the expansion. The 32-room hotel will be built in a wooded area on the east side of Wisconsin Avenue. A skywalk over Wisconsin will connect the new addition with the existing upscale lakefront lodge.

GT Builders of Kalispell is the general contractor.

Averill credited Whitefish Credit Union for 'stepping up" to help finance the new addition, and said construction bids came in "where we needed them to be."

A spa and some single-family homes also were planned east of Wisconsin Avenue, but Averill said those plans are on hold for now.

Preservation of the wetlands was a major selling point when the Averills proposed the project two years ago. Prior to that, various proposals came and went as development of the crucial area was contemplated.

In addition to the gift of wetlands property, the Averills pledged $110,000 toward wetlands restoration. That money will be used to build a nature trail with interpretive displays for the public, Whitefish Lake Institute director Mike Koopal said. He expects the trail to be open by June 2010.

The Averills will host a fundraiser at The Lodge, tentatively scheduled Sept. 12, to help raise money for sustained maintenance of the nature trail and wetlands area.

The wetlands, described by Koopal as "a kidney to Whitefish Lake," have been proposed for development for nearly two decades.

Dan Averill owned the property in the early 1990s and planned to develop the eastside property with a mix of commercial and residential units. He eventually pulled his application amid public concerns about wetlands development and wildlife habitat.

In 2001, Averill sold the property to Hines, the resort development company that planned a $300 million buildout of Big Mountain's village area but pulled out of that project a couple of years ago.

Bayard Dominick and Bob Bowden bought the property from Hines when the resort corporation left Whitefish.

They proposed Boardwalk, which initially called for 167 units with development on both sides of Wisconsin Avenue.

It later was scaled back and then scrapped as wetlands advocates argued Boardwalk was too big, too dense and too intrusive to a critical drainage corridor for Whitefish Lake.

Zoning on the property also was a sticking point for past projects because the density allotment would have allowed up to 850 dwelling units.

The Averills bought the land back and when they proposed their Viking Creek wetlands preservation project in May 2007, there was resounding support from city officials and conservationists.

Features editor Lynnette Hintze may be reached at 758-4421 or by e-mail at lhintze@dailyinterlake.com