A band of frustrated neighbors, homeless people tidy up Kalispell's defunct Outlaw Inn

A few frustrated neighbors and homeless residents have grabbed drills and garbage bags to clean up the decaying Kalispell building previously known as the Outlaw Inn.  

The vigilantes have boarded up shattered windows and collected garbage around the property perimeter.  Travis, who began tidying up the property around three weeks ago, said he was fed up with the lack of action the city has taken to address the 9-acre property bought by Portland, Oregon-based real estate firm Fortify Holdings in 2022.  

Kalispell City Council granted Fortify a conditional use permit in February 2022 to convert the former hotel into multi-family housing with up to 250 studio units. 

Prior to the purchase, the hotel, known at the time as FairBridge Inn & Suites and Conference Center, was an extended-stay hotel with over 100 guests. Residents were displaced during the sale of the property.  

Since then, the run-down plot of land that sits amid residential neighborhoods and businesses has become a playground for teenagers to explore and a refuge for homeless people escaping the cold Montana winter.  

Travis, along with two friends and a couple homeless people he said were living in the structure, have begun putting out trash cans, boarding up windows and picking up garbage, much of it in the form of bottles. 

“Me and my buddy were like, we got a bunch of wood, let’s go,” Travis said. 

Travis lives about six blocks from the property and declined to provide his last name, saying he did not want to incriminate himself. He said he has three children who walk by the property to get to the gas station and other nearby shops and was concerned for them.  

The Kalispell Police Department “has responded to several individuals claiming to be cleaning up the Outlaw property, while attempting to live inside,” wrote Kalispell Police Chief Jordan Venezio in an email to the Daily Inter Lake. “At the request of the property owner, they were trespassed from the property and removed.”  

There have been extra patrols at the former inn, which was requested by neighbors, Venezio wrote. 

Travis’s motivation to tend to the property has dwindled after run-ins with the police for trespassing and more vandalization by teenagers.  

“I’m over it,” he said. “When I first started doing it, I was all gung-ho now it’s just kind of like, well whatever."  

He said he’s seen multiple groups of teenagers doing burnouts in the parking lot and partying in the structure.  

“They’ve kicked in the doors and they've vandalized the whole place,” he said.  

Cassidy Kipp, a mother of small children who lives by the property, formed a neighborhood group to address the unfenced and unsecured land. She said the group has met to discuss safety risks that the property poses.  

“Concerns remain about the overall conditions and how the deterioration impacts community health and safety, particularly for law enforcement who may be called upon,” she said.  

As previously reported by the Inter Lake, Fortify Holdings has a past of buying up old hotels to convert to micro-apartments in the Pacific Northwest. In Kennewick, Washington, the enterprise purchased an old Motel 6 that, like the former Outlaw Inn, was left vacant and unsecured.  

That city ultimately hired a contractor to secure the property, diverting the cost to Fortify through a tax lien, according to the Tri-City Herald.  

Fortify Holdings did not respond to multiple emails requesting comment. Founder Sean Keys and President Ziad Elsahili did not return calls made by the Inter Lake. 

In an attempt to address the lack of security on Fortify’s Kalispell project, Council will hold a meeting in January to discuss amending different property maintenance ordinances, including city fire code, said City Manager Doug Russell. 

Russell said the start of construction at the site is up to the property owner.  

Reporter Jack Underhill can be reached at 758-4407 and junderhill@dailyinterlake.com.  

  

 A boarded-up entrance at the former Fairbridge Inn & Suites and Outlaw Convention Center in Kalispell on Wednesday, Dec. 4. (Casey Kreider/Daily Inter Lake)
 Casey Kreider   

    A boarded-up and broken window at the former Fairbridge Inn & Suites and Outlaw Convention Center in Kalispell on Wednesday, Dec. 4. (Casey Kreider/Daily Inter Lake)
 Casey Kreider   

    A boarded-up doorway at the former Fairbridge Inn & Suites and Outlaw Convention Center in Kalispell on Wednesday, Dec. 4. (Casey Kreider/Daily Inter Lake)
 Casey Kreider   

    Tape is placed across broken windows at an entrance to the former Fairbridge Inn & Suites and Outlaw Convention Center in Kalispell on Wednesday, Dec. 4. (Casey Kreider/Daily Inter Lake)
 Casey Kreider   

    A boarded-up entrance at the former Fairbridge Inn & Suites and Outlaw Convention Center in Kalispell on Wednesday, Dec. 4. (Casey Kreider/Daily Inter Lake)
 Casey Kreider