Lodge owners hope to build boutique hotel

The owners of The Lodge at Whitefish Lake want to build a downtown boutique hotel on the corner of Third Street and Central Avenue. The city-owned property is currently used as a surface parking lot.

Brian Averill, who handles resort operations and expansion at The Lodge, expressed his family’s interest in developing a “timeless boutique hotel” at the downtown site in a letter to the city. The Lodge at Whitefish Lake is owned and operated by the Averill family.

“We believe that we are uniquely positioned to produce a quality boutique hotel,” he wrote. “We have established a reputation as a premier lodging establishment and we are well known for our great customer service. The infrastructure of the Lodge at Whitefish Lake allows for synergies and economies of scale that will benefit the new property.”

Averill requested the city form a committee to draft a preliminary development agreement.

“That agreement would give us exclusive rights to develop plans and bring a project to the council for approval of a detailed development agreement within a specified period of time.”

Monday, council decided to vote on a resolution to form a committee at the Feb. 18 meeting. The committee will likely include the mayor and two councilors.

“I’m very in favor of having a discussion,” councilman Phil Mitchell said. “It would be good for the town. This is kind of exciting.”

The possibility of a downtown hotel has been talked about for years. The 2005 Whitefish Downtown Master Plan named construction of a boutique hotel as a catalyst project.

That plan called for a 36 room hotel at the empty lot on the corner of Central Avenue and First Street, with a facility that offered “a refined, urban, downtown lodging establishment to be developed for business travelers and visitors not currently offered in Whitefish.”

In 2007 International Capital Partners announced plans for a boutique hotel with 40 to 60 rooms at that site, but those plans never materialized.

The property at the corner of Central and Third is one site currently being considered for a public parking structure. The city is waiting on the completion of a parking study before deciding on the location for a parking structure.

The city has talked about using tax increment finance funds to assist with private development of a boutique hotel. The city could assist with infrastructure or by providing parking, which is the most likely scenario, City Manager Chuck Stearns said.