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What’s Next for Kalispell’s Original Commercial Catalyst?

Gateway West Mall to be auctioned off in May; nonprofit groups to pursue purchasing building

By Dillon Tabish
Gateway West Mall on April 30, 2015. Greg Lindstrom | Flathead Beacon

In the spring of 1973, Kalispell business leaders gathered to break ground on a multi-million dollar project that was the largest proposed commercial business facility in Flathead County.

The Gateway West Shopping Center opened that winter on a 26-acre section of empty land the city had annexed the prior year on U.S. Highway 2 West. The $4 million dollar project — which would be the equivalent of over $21 million today after adjusting for inflation — marked the dawn of Kalispell’s transformation into a regional business hub.

Today’s retail landscape, featuring the downtown mall, the bustling northern district and the rows of businesses along Highway 2 East through Evergreen, can trace its roots to the commercial catalyst, Gateway West Shopping Center.

The local Chamber of Commerce had launched an aggressive campaign in the early 70s to attract businesses to the small town of barely 10,000, but it wasn’t until the arrival of the mammoth shopping plaza that large-scale commercial development gained a true foothold.

The plaza began with five separate buildings, including a brand new 26,000-square-foot Safeway, while the mall offered a variety of 20 retail shops that were bustling with activity. The city’s newest theater, the Gateway Cinema, opened in the plaza in the winter of 1976, boasting twin theaters that could each hold a whopping 250 people.

But with the success of Gateway West, other projects followed. In 1986, the Kalispell Center Mall opened in downtown, adding a modern alternative to the west-side mall with three large anchor stores, Red Lion Hotel, JC Penney and Herberger’s. At the same time, the highway corridor through Evergreen blossomed with businesses that saw the widened four lanes of road as beneficial.

Gateway West did undergo a sizeable renovation in 1984, but its owners struggled to keep up with the burgeoning development around town.

After U.S. Highway 93 was widened to four lanes, the next prominent location became evident. The construction of Home Depot on U.S. 93 North in 2002 represented the beginning of major commercial development on the north end of Kalispell. In a matter of years, several anchor businesses rushed to fill the empty lots, including Target, TJ Maxx, Costco, Lowe’s and Walmart Supercenter.

Meanwhile, Gateway West Mall languished as attention shifted away from the western corridor. Stores began vacating the site, but it wasn’t until 2007 when the Gateway Cinema closed that the fate of Kalispell’s pioneer plaza seemed doomed.

Then in 2009, a collective of nonprofit human service agencies envisioned a new life for the site.

Earl Bennett, a longtime county administrator, had long advocated for developing a community center with centralized health services before he passed away.

After years of planning, the group, under the name Gateway Community Center, Inc., leased the former mall site with the goal of developing Bennett’s vision.

The nonprofits reached a 10-year agreement with the mall’s owner, American Capital Group, a private equities firm headquartered in California, to lease more than 55,000 square feet of space for a variety of agencies.

Today there are 11 agencies: United Way, Flathead Food Bank, Best Beginnings Council, Boy and Girl Scouts, Appointed Special Advocates for Kids, Summit Independent Living, Montana Conservation Corps, Literacy Center of Northwest Montana, Violence Free Crisis Line, AARP and VIPA Tax Services.

There are also three community conference rooms that are open to the public.

The property is adjacent to the Montana Department of Health and Human Services facility, which includes Child and Family Services and Welfare-to-Work related programs.

However, change could once again be coming at Gateway West.

Last week Kellie Danielson, president and CEO of Flathead County Economic Development Authority, said the building’s owner has decided to auction off the site.

American Capital Group will auction off the 100,000-square-foot property on Auction.com on May 19. The starting bid will be $600,000 and the auction will run for three days.

The 60,645-square-foot section of property where TeleTech operates will not be part of the sale. FCEDA owns that piece and leases it to the call center.

However, the pending sale does potentially threaten to uproot the 11 nonprofit agencies based in the former mall, including the United Way Volunteer Center, the Flathead Food Bank and Violence Free Crisis Line.

Sherry Stevens, director of United Way, said the group of agencies is developing a strategy to purchase the building through the auction.

“It has always been the intention to purchase this property for the community center project,” she said.

“If we don’t do this project here, we believe in this project enough that we will try to replicate this somewhere else in the community. We’re not going to let go of Earl Bennett’s dream.”