Motel move makes way for park
People are used to seeing hotels on the side of the highway, but those passing through Lakeside are getting used to seeing motels move down it.
The Bayshore Resort Motel has been making its way in pieces out of its home on the corner of Adams Street and Lakeside Boulevard, including most recently the structure's office, party room and four-bedroom owners' apartment traveling across the highway to the southside of the Lakeside Community Chapel parking lot Tuesday, Dec. 29.
U.S. Highway 93 traffic was disrupted for approximately 25 minutes, as the building made its way between poles, wires and buildings with only a few inches to spare. Approximately 130 Flathead Electric Cooperative members experienced outages during the move, which required the Co-op to disconnect the power since the building traveled along the path of power lines. The total move, which started at 9 a.m., took four hours to complete.
The building was purchased by a check from the Lakeside Community Chapel Youth Group. Bruce Ennis and Margaret Davis, who purchased the entire structure last year for $800,000, also assisted in the donation of the building.
The chapel has announced plans in a public statement to develop the first floor of the moved building into a large handicap-accessible meeting room to improve the space where the church provides a seniors lunch program, exercise classes and other community meetings. The upstairs of the structure will be used for children and youth ministries.
"Our thanks to Maggie and Bruce for their dedication and vision for the Lakeside community as well as their abundant generosity," Pastor Dennis Reese said in the statement. "They continue to bless our community in wonderful and amazing ways. We could not be more fortunate than to have them living in our midst."
Kinniburgh Construction handled Tuesday's move and its owner Steve Kinniburgh said it was one of the more "delicate projects' his company had completed, according to Davis. Bauer and Buck Construction prepared the building for the move by removing eaves, stairways and porches.
Other portions of the motel were moved in November to Youth With A Mission.
The motel as well as a number of other structures were purchased to make way for a lakefront public park, a personal project undertaken by Ennis and Davis. The couple started the venture to address what they saw as an unsafe situation where children were swimming near the boat ramp because they did not have another public place nearby to swim.
The lakefront provided by Davis and Ennis along with that owned by Flathead County will provide roughly 190 feet of lake frontage for the park, and roughly the same amount along Highway 93. Davis and Ennis intend to develop the property and then turn it over to the county to make it a public facility.
The Lakeside QRU spearheaded the sale of the former Mattson Realty office from the new park area. Its proceeds go to the QRU and park fund. Other buildings in the area that could not be sold and moved were demolished.
Work on preparing the site will continue through the next year, with an expected completion date of fall 2010.