Work begins on new VFW building
By CANDACE CHASE
The Daily Inter Lake
It took two years and four months unless you count the 15 years that Veterans of Foreign Wars Glacier Park Post No. 2252 spent looking for the right location.
Both Jim Aho of the VFW and contractor Stephen Young of The Building Company smiled broadly as concrete squirted out of a towering pump, creating footings for a new post building on First Avenue West in Kalispell.
The old building is about half this size, Aho said. This is 7,000 square feet.
Glacier Bank provided the financing for the new post estimated to cost about $500,000. It includes a lounge, meeting hall and offices with entrances on the east and north sides of the building.
The location was once the home of Skyline Bowl, a bowling alley which burned down several years ago. Aho said the post purchased the land after two other sites fell through due to construction limitations or restrictions.
Young was the low bidder when the building was competitively bid.
Steve has been hanging in with us for two years, waiting to get started, Aho said.
The post had to resurvey the land and then go through the process to consolidate several lots into one.
Because of some settling problems at the old bowling alley land, Young said a considerable amount of engineering was required. Tom Abel of Abel Engineering and Bill Grant, an architect from East Glacier, worked on the planning/design phase.
Young described the structure as wood with a metal roof and sided with either Hardiboard (fiber cement siding) or stucco. His company specializes in light commercial construction. It will be a real nice commercial building for downtown, Young said.
Every aspect of the building requires review and approval by the city of Kalispell which added more delays. At just about 2 p.m. Monday, a city inspector gave the go ahead to pump concrete into the waiting footings.
This is the happiest day of my life, Young said. No, the happiest day will be when my uncle Paul (Speck) cuts the ribbon.
The honor recognizes Speck s service in three hostile foreign engagements including World War II, Korea and Vietnam. Now over 90, Speck survived duty as a tailgunner during more than 25 bombing runs over Berlin during World War II.
Depending on the progress of construction, the ribbon cutting and celebratory barbecue may take place this fall or next spring.
Aho hopes to move in before winter weather arrives. He said the post remains on borrowed time at its old location on Main Street.
We sold it a year ago, he said with a laugh.
He credits the new owners with allowing the VFW to stay in the old building. Aho said the old post is slated to become an art gallery on the street level with office space upstairs.
It was a Ford auto dealership when the VFW bought the building.
Along with needing better parking and more space, VFW members decided to build a new post to eliminate the problems caused by having a kitchen upstairs and the cooler in the basement at the Main Street location.
Aho said many of the senior citizens have difficulty climbing stairs as well as walking a long distance due to limited parking. The new building has on-site parking as well as spaces on a lot the post leased adjacent to the new post location.
VFW Post #2252 has 447 members, including many Iraq war veterans.
We have a program where we pay for their first year so they can see if they want to get involved, Aho said.
The post also has an active auxiliary.
Reporter Candace Chase may be reached at 758-4436 or by e-mail at cchase@dailyinterlake.com.