Kalispell Approves Multifamily Development at FairBridge Inn

The Kalispell City Council this week unanimously approved a conditional use permit for a development that will convert the FairBridge Inn, Suites and Outlaw Convention Center into a multifamily residential complex while local nonprofit leaders scramble to assist the hotel’s extended-stay guests find housing before they are required to vacate the property.

After the project was approved by the planning board last month, officials learned that roughly 100 of the hotel’s current long-term guests would become displaced by the moveout date on Feb. 12.

Developers with Fortify Holdings, LLC out of Portland, Oregon will transform the hotel into 250 studio units, renovating existing hotel rooms, adding new interior, flooring, bathrooms, kitchen and appliances. Upgrades to the property will include the parking lot, recreational amenities with a barbecue area and potentially renovating the existing swimming pool and updating the fire code.

Cameron Wager, the project manager for the development, said he was unaware until last October that there were extended-stay guests living in the hotel and he didn’t find out recently that the seller, Steve Rice, had given them a 30-day notice to vacate the property.

After learning that residents would be displaced, Wager participated in roundtable discussions spearheaded by Community Action Partnership of Northwest Montana (CAPNM) to try to extend the moveout dates.

“From what we heard from the community, 90 days is a minimum to help out everybody,” Wager said. “We are here long-term, and we are willing to push off our construction until these residents can find long-term housing and not just be thrown out into the street.”

CAPNM Executive Director Tracy Diaz said the seller was not interested in extending the guests’ stay.

“They made it clear they had every intention of closing the business,” Diaz said. “As a program that looks for new affordable housing, we appreciate the new affordable housing … It would be an additional 200 units that we don’t have now.”

Last week, Samaritan House Director Chris Krager announced the organization would offer shelter and resources for the displaced residents, and it recently received funds from a private donor to cover some of the costs.

“It’s not going to be comfortable, and it won’t be luxurious for the folks, but it’s not outside,” Krager said.

“I’ll be the first to admit, I don’t have all the answers for this scenario,” he added. “It is complicated.”

Several other individuals spoke during public comment to express their concerns about Kalispell’s lack of low-income housing, pleading with councilmembers to bring more affordability to the city.

City Attorney Charles Harball said Kalispell does not have the legal authority to intervene in a transaction between the two private parties.

“If the council does overstep its bounds, you are now stepping in the middle of a fairly expensive transaction where both parties have a right against the city,” Harball said. “We do care about these individuals, but we also have to be careful about what we can do.”

“We wish we could put a condition on the seller to stay open for three more months but unfortunately we can’t,” Mayor Mark Johnson said. “So we have to do the best with what we can. It doesn’t feel like we are serving the members of our community tonight but in the long-term we are.”

Separately, Whitefish philanthropists Mike and Jamie Goguen donated a total of $400,000 to be distributed to FairBridge households.