Flathead County Library Ends Talks With Developer Over Kalispell Center Mall Site
A rewritten letter of intent to sell from Parkline Partners LP shrank the proposed property from two buildable acres to 1.4, which library board members said was too small to meet its needs
By Zoë Buhrmaster
Flathead County Library is pulling out of negotiations with SHOP Development Company to purchase a piece of Kalispell Center Mall property for a future library branch. Parkline Partners LP, an affiliate of SHOP, is in the process of requesting Tax Increment Financing (TIF) funds to help transform the mall property. The Texas-based developers had been in talks with the county library about a section of the northwest corner of the lot.
At a library board of trustees meeting on Oct. 22, however, members discussed changes SHOP made to the letter of intent the library drafted in September. The primary amendment was the size of the lot, which in September was two buildable acres for $2.9 million. SHOP’s October draft shrank the lot size to 1.4 acres at the same price.
“We have discussed the size of the property that we need with SHOP for years,” board member Jane Wheeler said. “They know that to do the library in that spot we need two acres.”
Two acres would allow sufficient space for a library parking lot, loading dock, drive-up book return and a two-story building. “We can’t do that on 1.4,” Wheeler said.
Board members also pointed to the unchanged price point as an issue. The new letter included a sentence noting the seller “shall not be required” to sell the 1.4-acre lot for less than $2.9 million. The county is restricted from spending more than the property is valued at and an independent appraisal would still be needed, Flathead County Administrator Pete Melnick noted. He questioned other charges such as the inclusion of monthly maintenance fees and whether an additional good-faith deposit would be refundable.
The October letter also alluded to architectural design requirements a future library branch would need to comply with on the mall property.
“Architectural approval gives Parkline too much control (In My Opinion),” Melnick wrote in an email to the library board.
Board members unanimously agreed not to sign the new letter of intent from SHOP. Wheeler, on the facilities committee reviewing possible new branch locations, said they’ve begun revisiting other “promising” properties in the area near the mall that could fit the library’s spatial needs.
“We’ve negotiated in good faith, this is what it ended up being, and it’s not going to serve us,” said Carmen Cuthbertson, vice chair of the board and a member of the facilities committee. “It’s not working out, and we’re moving on.”
SHOP did not immediately respond to the Beacon’s requests for comment.