Office building OK'd on Denver Street
An artist rendering by Montana Creative shows the planned office building on Denver Avenue.
Whitefish City Council last week approved a permit allowing for an office building on Denver Street just off Wisconsin Avenue.
Henry Roberts, of Half Full, LCC, requested a conditional use permit to develop a professional office building on the site that is currently vacant. A CUP is required because the building is greater than 4,000 square feet in size. The property is located at 643 Denver Street, east of Bonsai Brewing Project.
Roberts said that the ZaneRay Group, which develops websites for outdoor companies, is expected to occupy the building. The company is currently located in the Railway District, and with 26 employees is looking for a larger building, he noted.
“We’ve got no where to go in our current building,” he said. “We wanted a place where we would have room to grow.”
Mayor John Muhlfeld said ZaneRay Group would be a great addition to that side of town.
“You’re a great economic driver for Whitefish,” he said.
The plan calls for a two-story building about 8,500 square feet in gross floor area. There is set to be 35 parking spaces for the building, and vehicle access to the property is from Denver Street.
Jennifer Olsen submitted a letter to the city saying she is OK with the proposal for the lot, but is concerned about pedestrian safety in the area and would like to see the installation of a sidewalk on Denver Street.
A condition of the CUP is that a sidewalk must be installed along the entire Denver Street frontage of the property.
Council last month approved a 12-lot housing subdivision just to the east of the lot proposed for the office building, off Colorado Avenue and Denver Street. For the preliminary plat for that project, Council also required that a sidewalk be constructed along Denver Street.
The property planned to house the office building is zoned WB-1, which is intended for limited commercial uses within or adjacent to residential districts.
The growth policy designation for the property is split between neighborhood commercial and high-density residential due to a boundary line adjustment in 2014.