College narrows location for student housing

Flathead Valley Community College has narrowed down a location for the school’s first on-campus student housing.

FVCC President Jane Karas announced on Tuesday that the Kalispell campus housing most likely will be built to the west of the school’s Occupational Trades building and south of Walmart.

She made the announcement during a Kalispell Chamber of Commerce luncheon.

“We expect that we’ll bring more students into the valley, those who will stay here and work here,” Karas said.

Since late February, the college has worked with CTA Architects Engineers to pick a location that would allow enough space to house between 100 and 125 students.

The college Board of Trustees voted to move forward with the project in December after a survey revealed students felt it was difficult to find affordable housing near campus.

The only current housing FVCC offers students is 15 off-campus units the college leases from Kalispell Regional Healthcare. Those units provide housing for 30 people out of the roughly 2,400 enrolled at FVCC.

Karas said the goal is to break ground early this summer and have the project completed in time for students to move in for the 2017 fall semester.

The next step in the process is finalizing designs for the building.

“We think they will be apartment-style because we don’t have a full-time food service and for that small number of students it’s unlikely we will be able to afford a full-food service,” Karas said.

She said the apartment-style housing would most likely include studios, doubles and quads with kitchens.

Karas also announced that FVCC has begun to investigate the possibility of developing a student center and fitness center on campus.

“Those are buildings our students have asked for, they are needs that we have as we continue to move forward right now, though they’re both in the conceptual stage,” she said.

Reporter Katheryn Houghton may be reached at 758-4436 or by email at khoughton@dailyinterlake.com.