Agency on Aging still favors Gateway center
After a thorough review of relocation options, a committee tasked with looking at alternative sites for the Flathead County Agency on Aging has recommended the Glacier Community Center.
Agency on Aging director Jim Atkinson had suggested the Gateway site a year ago as perhaps the most feasible place, but the committee completed a due-diligence process to compare costs at three sites: Gateway Community Center, county-owned property north of the fairgrounds and the Sykes’ restaurant and grocery site.
Now that Sykes’ has been sold and recently was reopened, that’s likely not an option anymore.
The Gateway Community Center, located in the former Gateway West Mall, is a consortium of nonprofit groups that provide a variety of services.
“The committee first thought that new construction [north of the fairgrounds] would be best,” Peterson told the county commissioners, “but after looking at the pluses and minuses” it became apparent the Gateway site is the best option.
The Agency on Aging’s current facility on Kelly Road in south Kalispell, with 8,000 square feet, is too small for the operation and is limiting the services that can be provided, said committee spokesman John Peterson of Architects Design Group. The agency needs roughly 12,000 square feet.
Another reason for scoping out bigger sites is the $50,000 per year the county pays to rent the Kelly Road building.
It would cost $1.2 million to buy and upgrade the former Corral West space at the Gateway center. That compares to $2.8 million to build a new building north of the fairgrounds or $3.3 million to buy and refurbish the Sykes’ complex.
Advantages to the Gateway site are proximity to other agencies, ample parking, a freight dock, possible room for expansion, partial owner-seller financing and the fact that it’s an in-fill project making use of an existing empty building, Peterson said.
Architect Design Group’s floor plan for the Gateway site includes an extensive dining area for the Meals on Wheels program, commercial kitchen, space for freezers, an exercise/activity area, reading area, conference room and several offices.
Funding for the relocation project remains up in the air.
The Kalispell City Council this week rejected a request to use nearly $600,000 in tax-increment financing revenue for the upgrade to the Corral West space, saying the request didn’t qualify under the requirements of the city’s urban renewal plan.
The project doesn’t meet the tax-increment benchmark for creating at least 10 jobs that pay $15.45 or better an hour.
Atkinson said the county could consider using money from its building reserve fund or could use a combination of building-reserve and grant money. The agency is applying for a $450,000 state Community Development Block Grant.
The commissioners took the report under advisement.
Features editor Lynnette Hintze may be reached at 758-4421 or by e-mail at lhintze@dailyinterlake.com