Kohl's pulls out of Kalispell project

Retail giant tells developer its focus 'on other markets'

Kohl's has scrapped plans for a Kalispell retail store, developer Mark Goldberg said Thursday.

"They're absolutely, for sure not coming," said Goldberg, president of Goldberg Properties Inc., which is developing Spring Prairie Center in north Kalispell. "The reason they gave is that they're focused on other more promising markets than Kalispell."

Kohl's recently purchased 27 former Mervyns retail stores and is putting its financial resources into those projects, he said. Mervyns filed for bankruptcy last year and closed many of its stores.

Without Kohl's as an anchor tenant for the north end of Spring Prairie Center, PetSmart also has backed out of plans to build in Kalispell, Goldberg said.

"We're back to square one," he said. "We've lost all the sub-tenants. It's ground zero again."

Site preparation for a new $3.9 million Kohl's store north of Lowe's was started last year, but a building permit never was finalized.

"They were ready to come," Goldberg said. "Then the impact-fee [issue] held things up, and time kills deals."

The Kalispell City Council recently voted to adopt transportation impact fees, but months of discussion and uncertainty over whether the fees would be imposed and how much they would be played into Kohl's decision, Goldberg said.

Kalispell Planning Director Tom Jentz said Thursday he thought the project was still a go because he got a call from a contractor two weeks ago indicating construction on the Kohl's store would start June 1. In the meantime, though, a decision to scrap the project was made by Kohl's corporate office in Menomonee Falls, Wis.

The corporation had been circumspect about the Kalispell project all along, however. Negotiations for a Kalispell store began in 2005, and even last year when it appeared all systems were go for the Kalispell project, a company spokeswoman denied any plans to open a Kalispell store.

Kohl's started in 1962 as a single-store chain and has grown into one of the nation's biggest retailers, operating 957 stores in 47 states, according to information on the Kohl's Corporation Web site. Its market niche is value-oriented specialty department stores offering national-brand merchandise.

Goldberg said he's still striving to put together the third phase of Spring Prairie Center.

"We're working at it 24/7," he said. "We're committed to this project and to Kalispell. This is a setback, but we'll work to make Kalispell a vibrant business community."

Kohl's and PetSmart were to be the centerpieces of a 10-building complex near the southwest corner of U.S. 93 and West Reserve Drive.

They were to be the third phase of Goldberg's Spring Prairie Center. Businesses constructed in earlier phases of the development include Lowe's, Costco, Wells Fargo Bank, Famous Dave's, McDonald's, Starbucks and a health-care center.

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