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Flathead’s Expanding Marketplace

By Beacon Staff

Thirty minutes before the doors opened, a line of prospective employees began forming in front of Nomad Global Communication Solutions. A big sign hung overhead on the large manufacturing facility — “Now Hiring.”

The local technology company has been a stalwart business in the valley, building a homegrown company that now competes in the global marketplace. Nomad continues to ride high on the wave of expansion and held a job fair Aug. 30 to help fill a demand for more local employees. The company was hoping to increase staffing by almost 40 and is also looking at site expansion.

“It’s a pretty exciting spot for Nomad to be at,” said Will Schmautz, the company’s president and CEO. “We’re really getting ready for another big growth spurt.”

Nomad’s latest expansion joins a list of several valley-wide developments that are providing evidence of a clear shift in the marketplace.

Joe Unterreiner, president of the Kalispell Chamber of Commerce, said it’s fair to say the valley currently has the most business activity in at least five years.

“It definitely feels like we’ve taken a healthy step forward in the last few months and maybe the last year,” Unterreiner said. “What we’re seeing is not huge, out-of-control growth but definitely some solid steps forward.”

In Kalispell, the economic center of the valley, several recent examples are brightening the area’s business climate.

Sportsman and Ski Haus, one of the valley’s major retailers with over 100 employees, recently announced plans to expand its facility onto a 28,000-square-foot lot that sits vacant next door. The project, being developed by CTA Architects Engineers and Swank Construction, is estimated to cost $4 million and is expected to break ground next spring.

Construction crews continue developing the new 80,000-square-foot Hilton Homewood Suites at Hutton Ranch. The four-story, extended-stay hotel will feature 100 rooms and a conference room. The $8.3 million project is expected to be completed in June 2013.
The nearby Hutton Ranch Loop connector road is expected to be finished in mid-September. The road will help reduce congestion in the busy Hutton Ranch area.

A business plan is being developed for a brewery in downtown Kalispell. Unterreiner presented details at a recent chamber luncheon of the “Kalispell Brewing Company.” The 10,000-square-foot building on the corner of Fourth and Main streets is being renovated into a two-story brew house and tasting room with an upstairs open patio, according to preliminary artist renderings.

Another watering hole is sprouting up downtown in the former Loading Dock site. Construction is underway on the new Brannigan’s Irish Pub located at First Avenue East and Center Street. No completion date has been announced. Also in the neighborhood, AZ Engineers is developing a new site on Center Street and a 40-unit apartment complex for senior citizens, called Depot Place, will be built in the upcoming year, with the possibility of doubling in size in the future.

Two expanding firearms manufacturers are settling into new spaces. In order to meet rising production demands for barrels and full-built rifles, Proof Research is developing a 24,000-square-foot manufacturing facility. The building is located on U.S. Highway 2 between Kalispell and Columbia Falls. The project’s estimated budget is $6 million.

NEMO Arms, another rising firearms developer, has moved into its new headquarters in the last year on U.S. Highway 93 south of Kalispell.

“We’re the new firearms capital of the U.S.,” Unterreiner remarked at the chamber luncheon.

The developments in Kalispell alone seem to reflect the optimism expressed in a recent chamber survey. Roughly 70 percent of the businesses surveyed in the valley believe the economic climate will improve through the end of this year. Thirty percent said they were likely to add employees.

“These projects that are being taken on is a recognition on the part of business owners that this (local business market) is beginning to look sustainable,” Unterreiner said. “This reinforces and provides some evidence, tangible evidence … It definitely feels like we’ve turned a bit of a corner.”