Growth, job loss and driving ahead

The Flathead business community was bustling in 2016, a year that appears to have set the stage for continued growth in 2017.

From new businesses opening and small businesses banding together, the Flathead Valley emerged as one of the most active centers for commerce in the state. Chick-fil-A made its first Montana footprint in Kalispell, while developer Mick Ruis returned home to Columbia Falls to begin reinvesting in the community after a tumultuous 2016.

These are the top business notes of 2016, in no particular order of importance:

HOSPITALS MERGED, FORMING LARGEST FLATHEAD INDUSTRY

An affiliation agreement between Kalispell Regional Medical Center and North Valley Hospital was finalized, bringing the Whitefish hospital under the Kalispell Regional Healthcare umbrella.

The affiliation brought together services under one system in which the hospitals share employees and resources. Both hospital boards agreed to explore the affiliation and the relationship went into effect on May 1.

Health care subsequently became the valley’s largest industry, employing nearly 6,300 people, or about 16 percent of the county’s employment. The Flathead County health-care sector reported more than $313 million in wages, accounting for 21 percent of wages in the county.

Kalispell Regional Medical Center also continued its expansion, announcing a new $40 million, 190,000-square-foot pediatric center expected to be complete this year. The health-care giant has also submitted plans for a new digestive health center, with designs calling for a 25,000-square-foot building near the hospital campus.

SPRING PRAIRIE CHARGES FORWARD

Spring Prairie, the development district in north Kalispell adjacent to U.S. 93, continued its reign as the burgeoning buoy for new business growth in the valley.

Spring Prairie Phase Three, the north-most point of the development center, finally completed its last planned unit as Chick-fil-A opened its first Montana location in November after announcing its plans to build nearly three years ago.

In the southern end of Spring Prairie, Phase Four went vertical with construction of the Marriott Springhill Suites, Krispy Kreme and Mattress Firm opening before the New Year. Construction lunged forward on the new Hobby Lobby building, which will be one of four big box stores incorporated into the designs for Phase Four. Additionally, Casa Vida, a new fast-food Mexican restaurant is set to open next to Mattress Firm early this year.

WEYERHAEUSER SHUTS DOWN MILLS

The Washington-based Weyerhaeuser company entered the Flathead last year and then shut down two of its three plants, subtracting hundreds of jobs from the local workforce and landing a hefty blow to the blue-collar community of Columbia Falls.

The company announced in late June that it would close its plywood and lumber mills, citing a shortage of logs. The last of those logs rolled through the mills on Aug. 18. The move mirrored the loss that came with the Columbia Falls Aluminum Co. closure in 2009. Weyerhaeuser was able to transition a portion of workers to different locations, including 143 workers for the Evergreen location nearby.

Weyerhaeuser earlier last year purchased Plum Creek, which established the sawmills back in the 1940s by founder D.C. Dunham. The acquisition made Weyerhaeuser the largest private owner of timberland in the United States.

FOUR NEW FLATHEAD HOTELS OPEN

The hospitality sector made room for new growth and record-high numbers of Glacier National Park visitors with four new hotels opening in 2016.

The new Cedar Creek Lodge garnered a lot of buzz after it was announced in late 2015. The 64-room lodge opened in central Columbia Falls in June, just in time for the most-visited year in Glacier National Park history. Developer Mick Ruis last month sold the building to Xanterra, the concessioner who operates the lodges within Glacier Park.

Whitefish added two new hotels, The Firebrand Hotel and the Hampton Inn & Suites, adding 162 rooms to the resort town’s lodging. The Averill family, which operates the Firebrand Hotel, Lodge at Whitefish Lake and other resort lodges in the Flathead, also announced its acquisition of the DoubleTree Hotel in Missoula, along with plans to build a new hotel along the Clark Fork River.

Kalispell’s new Marriott Springhill Suites added another 101 rooms to the valley upon its opening in June. The hotel was the first addition to Spring Prairie Phase Four, a planned-development area of north Kalispell that’s recently been joined by Krispy Kreme, Hobby Lobby and Mattress Firm.

LOCAL CONTRACTOR COMPLETES THE BYPASS

Local contracting company LHC finished off the final phase of the Kalispell Bypass project, the largest project in Montana Department of Transportation history, in about one year.

Talk around the project first started 50 years ago, as the Flathead Valley began to grow into its current role as a tourist hub of the Treasure State. The entire project cost about $56 million, while LHC and MDT teamed up to finished the second half, which accounted for $34 million of the excursion.

The bypass sets the stage for future growth along Kalispell’s western border, with nearby plots recently rezoned for new high-density residential development.

Combined with each of LHC’s several subcontractors, 160 workers completed the project on time and under budget.

BUSINESS NOTES:

— After a rough 2015 for the Canadian exchange rate, the Canadian dollar leveled out in 2016, starting the year around 71 cents against the U.S. dollar and ending at 74 cents.

— New residential construction boomed in the Flathead with the 96-unit Bloomstone Apartments completed near the Kalispell Bypass. Flathead Valley Community College is underway on its 75-unit student housing development on campus, and a 55-unit apartment project is going through the permit process in Kalispell.

— The Flathead County Job Service had more than 900 jobs available in May, the highest number of jobs ever posted with the job service to date.

— Following the success of its direct Chicago flights, Glacier Park International Airport launched a new connection to San Francisco this fall, opening a new market of travelers to the Flathead. The airport reported ridership was up 3 percent from 2015.

— The average sales price for a single-family home in Flathead County rose to $313,065 from $299,216. The number of sales in 2016 fell to 3,670 from 3,903 the year before.

— Resort tax collections in Whitefish were up nearly $700,000 through October compared to the same time in 2015, while Whitefish bed-tax collections were $110,000 over the 2015 mark.