A $10 million U.S. Department of Transportation grant announced this morning is giving a boost to a project reshaping Kalispell.
The federal grant is funding the Core Area Revitalization Plan. The plan involves removing the railroad tracks that divide downtown, paving new sidewalks, connecting streets and creating a park path running through the city.
Kalispell City Manager, Doug Russell:
“It will create a sense of place down through that whole core area that really hopeful becomes a focal center of community, mixed-use development, be it residential, commercial or retail.”
The City of Kalispell along with the Flathead County Economic Development Authority, BNSF Railway, Watco Companies and Mission Mountain Railroad are matching the grant with $11 million to develop the city's core area.
The total cost of the project is around $22 million.
Russell says the City of Kalispell was committed to the Core Area Revitalization Plan regardless if the city was awarded the grant, but with it, the project timeline can move along more quickly.
Construction work on the park is expected to begin this spring.
