fbpx

Feasibility Study Underway for $70 Million Convention Center

By Beacon Staff

The Flathead County Economic Development Authority and Montana West Economic Development are partnering with a Midwest company with Montana ties to perform a feasibility study for the development of a $70 million resort complex in Flathead Valley.

Neither the developer nor his company has been named. Depending on the results of the feasibility study, the complex could open as early as 2015, according to Jessica Rogers, communications and marketing director with MWED.

The development would include a convention center, 150-room hotel, 45,000-square-foot indoor water park, biking and jogging trails and an outdoor ice skating rink. The developer projects the complex would create 400 positions and contribute $2.5 million annually to the Montana Bed Tax.

“There have been conversations in the local communities the past few years about the benefit of a convention/event center,” Flathead County Economic Development Authority and Montana West president Kellie Danielson said in a prepared statement. “I am pleased that a developer is willing to invest in a discovery process of the sustainability of an amenity community stakeholders have long thought they needed.”

If completed, the convention center could accommodate groups of 1,500 and banquets of 2,000 people. It was not disclosed where the complex would be built. According to MWED, the new facility would be dedicated to the memory of the developer’s late wife who passed away from cancer.