Kalispell Approves Developer’s Request for Charles Hotel and Parking Garage Project Extension
Compass Construction owner and development partner Bill Goldberg will have until 2029 to begin construction on the planned five-story hotel and eight-story parking garage in the city’s downtown
By Maggie Dresser
The Kalispell City Council at its April 15 meeting approved an extension to an agreement that will give a developer more time to start an $80 million project that will include an eight-story parking garage and an 86,000-square-foot boutique hotel.
In a 7-1 vote, with Councilor Ryan Hunter in opposition, the agreement addendum gives Compass Construction owner Bill Goldberg and his development partners five additional years to start the project as long as they pay the market value of the Third Street West and Main Street parking lot in quarterly payments of $13,500.
The addendum comes after Goldberg asked the council at a March 25 work session for the extension, explaining that he doesn’t have the capital to start construction by the March 31 deadline. Challenges like high interest rates, construction costs and labor have left his investors hesitant to fund the project in the current economic climate, he said.
In 2022, the city council passed a developer agreement and a transfer of two city-owned properties on Third Street West and Main Street and the southeast corner of First Avenue West and First Street West with Montana Hotel Development Partners LLC.
The public-private partnership between the city and developers would bring a 242-stall public parking garage with 78 multi-family housing units on the city-leased Eagles Lot while the five-story Charles Hotel project would include 79 hotel units with a full-service restaurant. The development would generate significant tax revenue for the city using tax increment financing (TIF).
All councilors except Hunter supported the project, who said the current value doesn’t represent the appraised value that was measured in 2020.
“Obviously the value of that lots is more valuable today than it was at the time of the appraisal, and it will be more valuable still five years from now,” Hunter said.
Ryan also said he doesn’t believe in subsidizing private parking for the hotel and he feels there will be a surplus of parking spots.
Councilor Chad Graham expressed his support for the development and called it a “good project for downtown.”
“I see this project as an anchor for our downtown and a start for that TIF,” Graham said. “Everything in this agreement I think is necessary.”