Residents Dismayed by Former Outlaw Inn’s Disrepair as Kalispell City Officials Work with Owners to Improve Blight
The Kalispell hotel that once hosted celebrities in the 1970s and 80s has sat vacant as developers lay plans for a 250-unit studio apartment complex after purchasing the property two years ago
By Maggie Dresser
It’s been 40 years since the former Outlaw Inn’s heydays in south Kalispell when it hosted Hollywood stars like Jeff Bridges, Kris Kristofferson and Christopher Walken, and the memories of extravagant weddings and events at the convention center are ancient history.
Following decades of disrepair at the 218-room hotel, which has undergone several ownership changes and, most recently, been rebranded as the FairBridge Inn & Suites and Outlaw Convention Center, the building has sat vacant for more than two years after an Oregon-based developer purchased the property.
The vacancy has led to frequent trespassing on the 9-acre property on U.S. Highway 93, as well as overgrown weeds and vandalization such as graffiti and broken windows, prompting Kalispell residents and city officials to express outrage over its current condition.
“The Outlaw Inn is atrocious – it is atrocious,” Kalispell City Councilor Jed Fisher said at a September meeting. “The fence is knocked down, the doors are broken open, the windows are broken – it’s total blight.”
“I think it’s outrageous what has happened on that side of town,” he added.
The former hotel’s condition prompted Fisher to propose a work session on community blight, a topic that has yet to be scheduled on the city council agenda but illustrates the public’s dismay at the property’s appearance and deterioration.
City councilors in February 2022 approved a conditional use permit for Portland, Ore.-based Fortify Holdings, LLC, to transform the hotel into 250 studio apartment units along with upgrades to the parking lot with the addition of recreational amenities.
While the permit was unanimously approved, the proposal drew controversy from social service providers in the Flathead Valley who worried about the displacement of the 100 longterm guests who lived in the north wing. The low-income residents were evicted shortly after, prompting the Samaritan House to open its doors to the residents for temporary shelter in the middle of winter.
More than two years after the sale, Kalispell Planning Services Director PJ Sorensen said the city is in the process of issuing building permits to the developer, but the timeline of the multifamily apartment building is unclear.
Representatives of Fortify Holdings did not respond to the Beacon’s requests for comment.
Even as trespassing and criminal activity continues to take place on the FairBridge Inn property, Kalispell Police Chief Jordan Venezio says there’s a 30% decrease in the call volume compared to when the hotel was operating.
From June 2020 to June 2022, the Kalispell Police Department (KPD) responded to the hotel 387 times and there were 4,000 calls within a quarter mile. In the past two years, officers have responded to the property 80 times and the surrounding quarter-mile perimeter 2,600 times.
“We had a lot of calls for service because of the residents who fully occupied the hotel,” Venezio said. “From a police perspective, the workload in that area has seen a decrease in calls for service.”
Venezio said criminal activity still exists in that area, but the department has been working with a private security company and the owners to try to secure the property.
Amid the disrepair, neglect and criminal activity, the FairBridge Inn & Suites is a far cry from its glory days as the Outlaw Inn, which was built in 1973 under the original ownership of Buck and Rusty Torstenson.
Throughout the 1970s and 1980s, the Outlaw Inn hosted a range of celebrities when Montana Film Office Director Garry Wunderwald set up crews for major motion pictures at the Outlaw Inn. Actors for films like “Heaven’s Gate,” “Winterhawk,” “Damnation Alley,” and “Winds of Autumn” were once guests at the hotel.
Former Kalispell Mayor Doug Rauthe told the Beacon in 2013 that it “was a premier convention center” decades ago and many long-time locals have fond memories of the Outlaw Inn.
But the Outlaw’s reputation slowly faded over time following several rounds of new ownership. The conviction of early Outlaw investor Dick Dasen Sr., who was charged with prostitution and sexual assault during a highly publicized trial in 2005, exacerbated its crumbling status.
The Outlaw Inn changed hands again in 2007 when Kalispell Hospitality Company bought the property with financing from Mountain West Bank right before the Great Recession, leading to the bank’s takeover of the hotel in 2011.
The property was listed for sale below its appraised value until Idaho-based Rocky Mountain Hospitality LLC purchased it in 2013, investing in a remodel that took place in 2015 and rebranding the hotel into the FairBridge Inn & Suites and Outlaw Convention Center.
Following Fortify Holding’s purchase of the hotel in 2022, the building has since sat vacant as developers lay plans for the 250-unit studio apartment complex.
“I don’t’ know how anybody can drive by that every day,” Councilor Fisher said, referring to the hotel. “We’ve seen the pictures – we’ve seen what business owners have said. It’s unacceptable and I want a workshop on community decay.”
