Page 11 - Flathead Beacon // 2.3.16

NEWS
The city’s planning and building department received a preliminary application for a new three-story, 111-room hotel o U.S. Highway 93 south of the White sh Mountain Mall.
COURTESY RENDERING
New Hotel, Subdivision Proposed in White sh Preliminary plans surface for 111-room hotel, 95-unit residential subdivision o U.S. 93
co
BY DILLON TABISH OF THE BEACON
On the heels of another bustling year
of tourism and economic development, plans for a new large hotel and residential subdivision have surfaced in White sh.
The city’s planning and building department received a preliminary appli- cation for a new three-story, 111-room hotel o U.S. Highway 93 south of the White sh Mountain Mall. The tentative plan is for a TownePlace Suites by Mar- riott, an extended-stay hotel that o ers studio, one-bedroom and two-bedroom suites with full kitchens and separate liv- ing and sleeping areas.
The proposed 63,000-square-foot hotel would sit south of the pond near the mall and require a new road to be built east from U.S. 93 to White sh Ave- nue. The lot is currently empty and zoned as a secondary business district, which requires a conditional use permit for buildings greater than 15,000 square feet.
Wendy Compton-Ring, the city’s senior planner, said the city’s Architec- tural Review Committee will review the preliminary proposal and once a land- use permit is submitted the project will go before the planning board and even- tually the city council.
The proposed hotel would sit adjacent
to a new 95-unit residential subdivision that is also tentatively planned for across the street to the south.
City planners have received a prelim- inary application for a large subdivision near White sh River. The subdivision plans show 13 single-family residential lots, two ve-plex buildings, a 24-unit, three-story apartment complex and two six-unit townhouses. A second phase of the development shows a mixed-use building with 36 units along U.S. 93. The subdivision would require the extension of White sh Avenue from north to south behind Les Schwab Tire Center.
The city’s planning board and council will review the proposal in the coming months.
The hotel project is the latest lodging addition in the Flathead Valley, which is already gaining 325 new rooms this year.
In White sh, the bed tax collections show 2015 was one of the best years on record in terms of lodging.
Yet some are concerned that the sud- den in ux of new hotels could over sat- urate the market and tip the balance of lodging opportunities.
Montana hotels had an average occu- pancy rate of 58.9 percent last year, according to Smith Travel Research, an organization that tracks lodging data
across the U.S.
Rhonda Fitzgerald, the owner of the
Garden Wall Inn in downtown White- sh who also serves on the ITRR research committee, said the community contin- ues to try to bolster its visitation during the so-called shoulder seasons, when crowds tend to dissipate. Winter has made strides with more visitors but the current lineup of hotels still has plenty of available rooms outside of summer, Fitz- gerald said.
“If you look at resort tax collections for White sh, July and August are strong months. June and September are OK. But the rest of the year is clearly not strong,” she said. “If you’re in business here, right now you’re working really hard for eight to nine months of the year to be pro table.”
There are already 1,200 lodging rooms in White sh, not including vacation rent- als from VRBO and Airbnb.
Richard Hildner, a city councilor in White sh and member of the planning board, said he has some initial concerns about the community’s ballooning lodg- ing opportunities without knowing much about the latest hotel proposal.
“I share the concern that we may be reaching that saturation point,” he said.
dtabish@ atheadbeacon.com
www.T
www.ThreeRiversBankMontana.com
FEBRUARY 3, 2016 // FLATHEADBEACON.COM
11
Three Rivers Bank of Montana is a place where you can still get to know your banker, get personalized attention and quick answers because we are independently owned and locally operated.
b p
h