The Kalispell Center Mall turned 25 recently and, considering the times, that’s quite an accomplishment. Recent years have been rough on malls coast to coast, as consumers’ buying habits have changed and developers and merchants have increasingly embraced “lifestyle centers,” code words for open-air malls often set in the suburbs.
We almost had one of those break ground here. Bucky Wolford had planned to build the Glacier Town Center, an ambitious 485-acre project that would have included 1.8 million square feet of retail and commercial space, taken 20 years to complete and more than doubled Kalispell’s north end commercial district.
When it was initially approved, in 2008, the recession hadn’t yet taken hold of the valley. And downtown business owners interviewed then were optimistic that the development would benefit all commerce in the area. But it’s hard to imagine that the Kalispell Center Mall could compete in attracting new tenants when many of them would be wooed by a lifestyle center up north.
The national economy completely tanked a few months later and plans to build the town center were put on hold and the rate at which existing malls emptied across the country only increased. The Wall Street Journal wrote about the “struggling properties reduced to largely vacant shells” and published a list malls that were generating sales per square foot of $250 or less – a sign that they might not survive. Just one Montana mall, Holiday Village in Great Falls, made the list at the time.
But in Helena, the Capital Hill Mall’s future is also murky. The mall’s ownership owes $7.5 million plus interest to City National Bank of Los Angeles. And according to KXLH News, earlier this year there were just 18 businesses left there and 15 vacancies.
In contrast, the Kalispell Center Mall appears to be doing relatively well. When the Glacier Town Center project stalled, some tenants agreed to long-term commitments at the mall.
Kalispell’s mall is unique in that its proximity downtown makes it an essential part of the city’s core. If shuttered, it would make the struggle for nearby retailers to compete for customers that much more difficult. And the vacant property would be difficult to fill – just look at those that remain empty elsewhere.
When I was kid growing up in Spokane Valley, Wash., I watched as the neighborhood mall, University City, slowly died. The area, which was never that attractive in the first place, is only worse now. And city officials there have been discussing ways to redevelop the property for several years.
Even without increased competition from a new north side town center, the Kalispell Center Mall must continue to reinvent itself as predictions of its demise as a business model continue to spread.
“While the mall may not be dead yet, it’s lost the ability reproduce – a sure sign of its extinction,” the magazine Fast Company wrote earlier this year.
Recently, Kalispell’s city council has discussed encouraging redevelopment in the downtown area using a $1 million Brownfields grant awarded by the Environmental Protection Agency. Some of the property that qualifies for the grant is adjacent to the mall. The council has also discussed how to best use roughly $2 million in Tax Increment Financing (TIF) money.
The north side will continue to expand and perhaps a town center will be built there. The mall – and the rest of downtown – should position itself to remain viable before that happens, instead of scrambling to survive afterward. Here’s to Kalispell Center Mall celebrating several more birthdays.