Davis plan will ease development of city-owned property
Martin Kidston
(Missoula Current) Over the past decade, the City of Missoula has been gifted or has purchased a number of properties scattered around downtown, Midtown and West Broadway.
Combined, they total around 45 acres have been touted for their potential for redevelopment. But despite the city's vision for each lot and its effort to partner with like-minded developers, the properties sit unsold, vacant and void of any progress.
“We owe it to the public on how the conversations have gone around some of these parcels,” said Mayor Andrea Davis. “We're overly prescriptive on what we believe the vision to be. Often times, that effort to achieve so many different goals in a single project can be a hindrance to the private sector in actually being able to get a project done.”
Earlier this year, Davis convened the Task Force on City Lands Redevelopment to explore the lack of progress on 45 acres owned by the city. The 11-member group included a range of professionals across sectors and it came to a number of conclusions, some being rather obvious.
Among them, the city's redevelopment strategy sought to wring too many goals from a single project, making it nearly impossible to deliver at cost. In essence, the city's aspirations were deterring the sale and redevelopment of the very lots the city is seeking to activate.
“It really illuminated opportunities for the administration to talk about how we can activate the lands more quickly to meet the needs of Missoulians today,” Davis said. “We've wanted to see projects happen that are not happening.”
The issues
The city owns a number of marquee properties including the old library block downtown, the former Sleepy Inn site on West Broadway and several acres near the mall, among others. The city also has contracted the Missoula Economic Partnership to help seek out and vet potential developers willing and able to redevelop the sites in accordance with the city's vision.
But that vision has been too narrow, the task force found, and it has effectively deterred any progress. Based upon the recommendations, the city will look to glean other public benefits from a project, even if the project itself doesn't meet the city's initial goal.
“You can look at some of the properties the city has out there and take away that we're being too prescriptive in telling people exactly what has to happen,” said City Council member Mike Nugent. “Even in the greatest interest-rate period we're probably going to see in the coming decades, some of our biggest goals aren't being reached because people can't make the project work.”
Members of the task force point to a number of examples including the old library block. The city received the property as a donation in 2019 and began seeking redevelopment partners. They landed on Edlen & Co/deChase Miksis to develop a proposal for the site and build it.
As part of that process, the city had a number of desires including low-cost retail rent, affordable housing, a daycare, underground parking, and an array of other goals. But years have now passed and the site remains inactive – a victim of the city's mandates.
“We try to achieve all we want to be as a community in one property and ask the private sector to deliver it cost effectively,” said Grant Kier, president and CEO of the Missoula Economic Partnership. “It's impossible. We saw that at the old library block.”
Redevelopment of the Sleepy Inn property has faced similar challenges. The master plan for the West Broadway corridor called for a five-story gateway building into the downtown district with mixed-use opportunities.
A number of developers have presented ideas for the site, but none have met the city's goals. One had a “drive-through” component that wasn't what the city was looking for.
But given the lack of activity, the city may now consider its level of comfort “with other uses that weren't initially envisioned” on the site. Getting the property sold and on the tax roll will enable the city to carry out other projects for the public good, even if it's not contained within the property's redevelopment.
“We wanted to create a pathway for (the mayor) to evaluate things to come and look at what the end result might be for the public, even if that's two steps after selling a particular project,” said Nugent. “We might not immediately solve a housing issue, but it might help us unlock a different thing.”
The new approach makes the city more agile and able to adapt to proposals more quickly. Davis said a redevelopment proposal for the Southgate Triangle may be near. Advocates of the new approach say it gives the mayor leeway in evaluating offers and when negotiating any public benefit.
Davis said the city realized the potential for change when it negotiated redevelopment of the Riverfront Triangle. While the planned hotel and events center doesn't deliver in the way of affordable housing, it will place the vacant property back on the tax rolls, enabling the city to make investments elsewhere.
The developers will also donate $7 million into the Affordable Housing Trust Fund.
“We right-sized our vision for how we could achieve both redevelopment of an infrastructure desert and still achieve the goals of the Downtown Master Plan,” Davis said. “We have the ability to fund the affordable housing trust. It's really a simpler transaction.”