One workforce housing project takes shape, another in the works

While a study of Whitefish’s workforce housing shortage is underway, one meaningful project addressing the issue is already in the works and another is being planned.

The 60-unit Whitefish Crossing apartment complex on Highway 93 South is expected to be complete by early next spring. Developers Jeff Badelt and Sean Averill of Montana Development Group are constructing five buildings with 12 units each on the 4.5 acre site behind the Naturally Clean dry cleaners. Six of the apartments are planned to go to the Whitefish Housing Authority as deed-restricted rentals. All of the units will be long-term rentals.

The apartments will vary from one to three bedrooms, and each unit will have a private entrance, deck, and washer and dryer hookups. The two-bedroom units will offer about 1,100 square feet of living space, and some will have master suites.

“This is what doesn’t exist in Whitefish,” Averill said of Whitefish’s current housing market. “Right now, you either have a 100-year-old ski bum house, or a luxury condo that’s too expensive.”

“Property managers are beating my door down trying to get this. We’ll lease this up really quickly.”

The project is the first to use the city’s density bonus incentive to provide affordable units. Under the voluntary program, a developer receives a density bonus as high as 50 percent when a certain percentage of units is set aside for affordable housing.

“Just because it’s affordable doesn’t mean it’s low-income housing,” Averill is quick to note. “It just means it’s an affordable place to live.”

City officials have been focused on finding remedies to Whitefish’s housing shortage that by most accounts is approaching a “crisis.” An insufficient stock of rentals is coupled with a housing market that generally exceeds the average household income. The result is a deficit of workers for the thousands of service jobs that motor Whitefish’s tourist-based economy, while professionals are forced to commute from outside of the community where they work.

“I know from The Lodge, every waitress, they all live in Kalispell,” said Averill, whose family owns and operates The Lodge at Whitefish Lake and the Firebrand Hotel.

A housing needs assessment is currently underway, but Averill estimates Whitefish needs upward of 400 affordable units to meet the current demand.

“We’re way under that, but [Whitefish Crossing] is a start,” Averill said. “It’s 60 people who don’t have to live in Kalispell.”

Averill says he’s working on another project at another location on Highway 93 South that could offer as many as 200 affordable units. The plan will likely include a mix of apartments and single-family homes, he said, adding that he’d like to work with Habitat for Humanity on the single-family properties.

“We don’t have an application yet,” Averill said of the project, “but it will be a bigger one that would fill a need for 20 years.”

“What I’ve learned is that 60 units isn’t a great density because you don’t have the numbers to support any great amenities,” Averill added. “When you get to 200 units, you can have a clubhouse, a pool and gym, and make it more of a cool place to live.”

In 2013, Averill was part of a development group that proposed to build a 174 housing units on East Second Street near Cow Creek. Facing pressure from residents who argued the project was too big for the neighborhood, the plan was scaled back to 150 housing units, then reformatted again to 143 units. The final approved project was a 62-lot subdivision with 54 single-family lots and eight townhouse lots, with no designated affordable units.

Averill hopes the project he’s planning on 93 South receives support from city leaders who are taking on the workforce housing issue.

“The city is going to have to ask themselves a question,” he said. “Do we have to have little 12-plexes or 8-plexes, or do you want to have one project that solves the need and make it a cool place to live?”

“The city needs to rally behind the idea of doing it,” he added. “They’re going to have to decide if they really want it and give the developer some insurance they really want it.”

Averill didn’t give a time-line of when he’d officially submit an application for the new project, adding that he’s waiting to see what happens with Whitefish’s planned unit development policy.

“We’ll see what happens over the next couple of months,” he said.