New Silos apartments open to tenants

The first building in The Silos apartment project at Center Street and Fifth Avenue West in Kalispell is expected to be ready Feb. 1. 

Of the planned total 192 units, the first building of 40 units will open to tenants  — of which 35 are still available to rent. Another set of 40 units is set to be ready in a few months, according to Erica Ortiz, the property manager at Ruis Holdings.

“We have been receiving calls for eight months,” Ortiz said earlier in the week. “So far we are holding five with deposits.” 

The complex, located along the Parkline Trail, takes its name from defunct grain silos that remain on the property. Mick Ruis, the developer behind many projects in the Flathead Valley, purchased the site after CHS stopped using it in 2019 and relocated to the Glacier Rail Park. 

Plans for the apartment project were announced nearly three years ago as part of a mixed-use development also expected to include a restaurant and commercial space.   

The four-story apartment buildings come in a variety of layouts. 

One-bedroom units, initially priced at $1,750 per month for the first year, are about 900 square feet in size and include a balcony. Two-bedroom units, initially priced at $2,100 per month, are over 1,000 square feet in size and also include a balcony. 

And a corner two-bedroom apartment with a larger balcony will be $2,200 per month for the first year.  

Amenities include gym access, a yoga room, a conference room, a remote work room, a scenic outdoor patio on a separate community building, and a fire pit and indoor fireplace, all with 24-hour access. Each unit includes wifi.

The complex also includes ground-level covered parking for tenants. 

With 8.44 acres of total property, a dog park is “a maybe” according to Ortiz, dependent on the landscape plan.

Initial plans called for a restaurant on top of the 71 feet tall silos. Those are still in the works, Ortiz says. 

Jackola Engineering & Architecture designed the project. 

Ruis Holdings is responsible for other projects in the Flathead Valley, such as long-term and vacation rentals on Nucleus Avenue in Columbia Falls and a planned 65-room hotel on U.S. 2 East at the Glacier Inn Motel property. In Whitefish, the company is behind a planned 146-unit apartment project that includes deed-restricted affordable housing located between Texas Avenue and Colorado Avenue. 

Reporter Carl Foster can be reached at 758-4407 or cfoster@dailyinterlake.com. 

The Silos apartment complex under construction in Kalispell on Tuesday, Jan. 30. (Casey Kreider/Daily Inter Lake)
Casey Kreider

A kitchen in a unit at The Silos apartment complex in Kalispell on Tuesday, Jan. 30. (Casey Kreider/Daily Inter Lake)
Casey Kreider

The Silos apartment complex under construction in Kalispell on Tuesday, Jan. 30. (Casey Kreider/Daily Inter Lake)
Casey Kreider

A kitchen in a unit at The Silos apartment complex in Kalispell on Tuesday, Jan. 30. (Casey Kreider/Daily Inter Lake)
Casey Kreider