Plan looks to transform industrial site

The developer of a mixed-use development planned for the former Idaho Timber site says the project will bring a positive change to the now vacant industrial site.

“This is an urban core development project,” said Casey Malmquist. “This has been a long blighted industrial area and this will transform it into a vibrant, valuable addition to the city of Whitefish.”

Malmquist, with 95 Karrow LLC and owner of the property, is looking to develop a 22-lot mixed use site on the 14-acre property.

A variety of uses are proposed on the site including residential, professional office, lodging, restaurant, limited retail, light manufacturing, artisan workshop space, studio and gallery space, personal service businesses and other similar uses.

Malmquist said the project aligns with the city’s Highway 93 West corridor plan and the city’s growth policy.

Bruce Boody, landscape architect working on the project, said the development is a way to add a different use and character to the site, while providing professional office space and residential units for those who can’t afford to be located downtown.

“We want a diversity of uses,” he said. “We also want to have it affordable. We’re not looking to be a competitor to downtown. I think this can be a support to the downtown.”

Boody said the project is designed to provide a work space for small manufacturers, along with professional offices and residential, but not general retail space.

The Planning Board last week gave a positive recommendation of a preliminary plat and planned unit development overlay for the site.

“I love the design concept,” said Planning Board member Rebecca Norton. “I’ve been waiting a long time for this to be a non-blighted area.”

The proposed development would happen in six phases. The development is planned to include artisan spaces, a microbrewery, professional office and condominium spaces, a hotel, a restaurant and private railcar parking.

The site plan calls for 5 acres of open space with urban-type open space with plazas and open space areas along the Whitefish River that includes an extension of the Whitefish River trail. The site plan also calls for a future bridge across the Whitefish River to connect with the BNSF Loop Trail, though the developer would not be constructing the bridge.

The project is expected to generate an average of about 5,800 vehicle trips per day at full build-out, according to the developer’s traffic study. Based upon that, the intersection at West Second Street and Karrow Avenue will require the installation of a traffic signal at the time of full build-out.

The developer will need to work with the city and the Montana Department of Transportation for installation of the light, the city planning report notes.

City Council last month approved a rezone of the property to industrial transitional district and neighborhood mixed-use transitional. The property is part of the Highway 93 West corridor plan, adopted in 2015, as an opportunity for “community compatible redevelopment.”

City Council will hold a public hearing on the mixed-use development on Dec. 4 at City Hall.