{"id":20063,"date":"2017-11-02T10:25:58","date_gmt":"2017-11-02T16:25:58","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/lastbestnews.com\/site\/?p=20063"},"modified":"2017-11-02T10:25:58","modified_gmt":"2017-11-02T16:25:58","slug":"major-downtown-missoula-project-moves-forward","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/montana-mint.com\/lastbestnews\/2017\/11\/major-downtown-missoula-project-moves-forward\/","title":{"rendered":"Major downtown Missoula project moves forward"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Plans\"<\/a>

CTA Architects<\/p>

An architectural rendering of the Hotel Fox and Missoula convention center planned for the corner of Orange and Front streets in downtown Missoula. The $80 million project cleared a major hurdle with the Missoula Redevelopment Agency on Wednesday.<\/p><\/div>\n

A downtown project cleared another hurdle on Wednesday with the Missoula Redevelopment Agency\u2019s approval of several complex agreements guiding the construction and use of an $80 million hotel and conference center.<\/p>\n

The series of agreements, which also include a component of public parking beneath the facility, will go to the City Council for final approval, marking a big step forward in a project now years in the making.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re finally at the starting gate,\u201d said Chris Behan, executive director of the MRA. \u201cIf the City Council signs these things, we\u2019re off and running, but there\u2019s a whole lot of work to be done before we get across the finish line. This allows the developer to spend as much as $2 million on design and engineering to get the point where they know if they have a project or not.\u201d<\/p>\n

The project traces its roots back nearly 30 years when the Mann Corporation donated to the city what\u2019s become known as the Fox site, located on the corner of Orange and Front streets. Over the past decade, the city has sought a visionary developer to redevelop the property.<\/p>\n

It found that developer in Hotel Fox Partners, a coalition made up in part by Farran Realty Partners of Missoula. The plan started with a hotel and smaller conference center, though the vision has since expanded in scale and presentation.<\/p>\n

It now includes a multi-phased development that includes a 195-room hotel and a 60,000-square-foot conference center. Future phases include housing, office space, retail and parking, with a build-out estimated north of $150 million.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re talking about this being a kickoff project to a larger multi-phase development that includes housing at all (income) levels, more retail, more parking and offices,\u201d said Jeff Crouch with CTA Architects. \u201cWe have all of that coming as well.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"CapreAir_Variable\"<\/a><\/div><\/div>As outlined in the agreements approved Wednesday, Hotel Fox will purchase the Fox site from the city and construct a seven-story hotel. The developers will also construct a 60,000-square-foot conference center attached to the hotel, along with a 405-stall parking garage located below.<\/p>\n

Above the hotel, three stories of residential condominiums will be constructed and sold to private owners.<\/p>\n

In exchange, the city will purchase the conference center from the developers and pay for it using tax increment revenue bonds. The estimated price sits at $16 million, though that\u2019s likely to change as the conference center moves closer to final design.<\/p>\n

\u201cAs design progresses, we\u2019ll know a lot more details with regard to what exactly that dollar amount will be,\u201d said Dan Semmens, the city\u2019s bond council and legal representative with Dorsey & Whitney. \u201cIt will be finalized by an addendum in the development agreement on or before the date of the construction financing the developers will enter in to.\u201d<\/p>\n

After purchasing the conference center from the developers, the city would then lease it back to the hotel, which would be responsible for upkeep, maintenance and booking events.<\/p>\n

Ellen Buchanan, director of MRA, said the city is working with the Montana Department of Revenue to understand the taxable value of new and planned projects within the district. That will partially determine what the city can pay for the center.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe know how much has been approved for the Stockman Bank project for public improvements made and there will be residual from that,\u201d Buchanan said. \u201cWe\u2019ve calculated what we think that can bring to the table and we\u2019ve run the numbers on what we think the increment will be from the conference center and the portion of parking there that will be private.\u201d<\/p>\n

Under the agreements approved Wednesday, the city will also purchase 309 units of public parking in the underground structure. The 405-stall garage will also include 96 private spaces.<\/p>\n

Those private parking spots will generate tax increment while the public spaces will generate parking revenue. Both funding streams will be used to pay for the city\u2019s portion of the parking structure.<\/p>\n

Despite the project\u2019s initial complexities, experts on both sides believe it will serve as an economic catalyst to the larger Missoula community, landing major events the city could not otherwise get. With events capable of hosting 1,000 dinner guests, it could also help fill hotel rooms across the city.<\/p>\n

A study conducted by the national planning firm Conventions Sports and Leisure estimated the Missoula conference center would bring $14 million in direct economic impact to the community each year.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat study estimated 100,000 distinct visitors to this community as a result of this facility per year,\u201d said Crouch. \u201cThose are big numbers and the ripple effect across the community could be significant.\u201d<\/p>\n

During construction, the hotel and conference center is expected to generate nearly 1,000 jobs.<\/p>\n

This article originally appeared on\u00a0Missoula Current<\/a>, an independent online newspaper, of which\u00a0Martin Kidston is the founding editor.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A downtown project cleared another hurdle on Wednesday with the Missoula Redevelopment Agency\u2019s approval of several complex agreements guiding the construction and use of an $80 million hotel and conference center.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":97,"featured_media":20064,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[16,14],"tags":[6420,6419],"class_list":["post-20063","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-montana","category-news","tag-hotel-fox","tag-missoula-redevelopment-agency","prominence-category-featured"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/montana-mint.com\/lastbestnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20063","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/montana-mint.com\/lastbestnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/montana-mint.com\/lastbestnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/montana-mint.com\/lastbestnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/97"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/montana-mint.com\/lastbestnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=20063"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/montana-mint.com\/lastbestnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20063\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":20065,"href":"https:\/\/montana-mint.com\/lastbestnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20063\/revisions\/20065"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/montana-mint.com\/lastbestnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/20064"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/montana-mint.com\/lastbestnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=20063"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/montana-mint.com\/lastbestnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=20063"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/montana-mint.com\/lastbestnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=20063"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}