Industrial park ready to sell lots
The Old School Station industrial park has passed its final city step before it can sell its lots.
On Tuesday, the Kalispell City Council unanimously approved the city-required conditions - the final plat - for the 55-acre site's development.
Developers Andy Miller and Paul Wachholz needed that final plat approval before they can sign up tenants for the Old School Station's 17 lots.
Wachholz hopes to nail down some tenants in the next few weeks. Old School Station has only one confirmed tenant - Kalispell's Fun Beverage Inc. - which is owned by Wachholz.
The site is two miles south of Kalispell city limits. Kalispell annexed the site last summer, creating an island of city land surrounded by rural Flathead County. Kalispell boundaries are expected to slowly move south to eventually reach the industrial park.
Wachholz said a contract likely would be signed by late March to cover Old School Station's initial grading and sculpting of drainages. The developers expect to begin extending water and sewer lines to the site this spring to connect to Kalispell's systems.
On Tuesday, the City Council also awarded a $599,938 contract to Butte-based O'Keefe Drilling to dig a water well at the site. This well would be a legally required backup water source to the city's water lines being installed by Wachholz and Miller. It also would help future growth around Old School Station and provide a geological look at Old School Station's subterranean levels.
The park's proposed cornerstone is a 58,000-square-foot "entertainment center" that might include animation, movie, television, video and Internet game production facilities. An Israeli high-tech firm also is being wooed to set up a facility at Old School Station.
Fun Beverage plans to build a 109,000-square-foot building at Old School Station for $8 million to $9 million. Construction is to begin this year and finish in 2007.
The city is setting up a special improvement district in which future tenants will pay off the construction bonds for the streets, sidewalks and utilities to be installed at the industrial park. The city expects to receive bond bids in March. Those numbers will be used to budget the city's infrastructure work at Old School Station.
Reporter John Stang may be reached at 758-4429 or by e-mail at jstang@dailyinterlake.com