Synergy in the Falls

A big high five to all the organizations, businesses and individuals that made the recent Invest Downtown 2022 a success. The enthusiasm and work that is going into downtown Great Falls, MT right now is amazing. From new shops and businesses to housing, the area is developing quickly in all the ways that the public wants. This article outlines some of the new developments to downtown Great Falls and my perspective on the past and why these new changes are so exciting.

Downtown is for Rockstars

Invest 2022 updated us on the success of current businesses and introduced new ones to downtown Great Falls. The buzz is that downtown businesses are rocking it. The scene is alive. There's The Newberry, Enbar, Mighty Mo', Elevation 3330, The Wild Hare, various boutique shops and that's just Central Avenue. So many other destinations are within walking distance and if you want you can "Bird it" and rent a scooter to "fly" to the next fun spot. We've got Gibson Park looking as good as ever and the River's Edge Trail running along the Missouri. We are real estate agents with Dascoulias Realty Group and our office location is just off downtown and it's great to just walk to nighttime entertainment or other special events.

We've met many of the owners of the businesses and we always feel like it's money well spent to invest in the success of the downtown area. One of the rockstars that we've had the pleasure of talking to and have enjoyed amazing food with is Mike Hallahan from the Enbar, a cocktail bar and restaurant. During the event, Mike was invited to provide a final statement to the audience of around one hundred attendees. His message was that the downtown merchants have an all for one and one for all mentality and that the real power in the movement is in the "synergy" created when they all work together. Yaron Goldman with Rib and Chop had presented on their new location and Mike commented on how new businesses like Yaron's are invited into the club with open arms; rising waters raise all ships. This attitude among the business owners is refreshing. These rockstars just want everyone to rock with them.

Housing, Hotels and Healthcare

As a homeowner, I'm not too concerned with where I rest my head at night. However, as real estate agents, my wife and I are very concerned about housing. Nationally, the supply of homes is down. Buyers are struggling to find homes to buy and places to rent. The Lindseth brothers, Brion and Jason Lindseth are working on a large project that borders the Missouri River that will bring a new opportunity for those looking for rental housing. Adjacent to the Milwaukee Station the Loft at the Station will provide a host of apartments to live in along with the amenity of several new restaurant spaces.

Hotel Arvon, which also hosts the Celtic Cowboy restaurant will be joined by a revamping of the Greystone Hotel on Central Avenue into the Gibson Hotel. Architect, Keith Ballantyne introduced the hotel plan and its estimated completion for 2024. These two hotels will bring more attention to the downtown.

Alluvion Health, a large non-profit healthcare agency, updated the audience on their multi-million dollar renovation of a building for their enhanced services to the community. The addition of this healthcare option will bring even more jobs and traffic to the downtown area; a plus for current and future businesses.

We are actively working with many new buyers to the Great Falls house market and we enjoy telling them about the new opportunities our downtown and city have to offer them. It makes a difference when they are looking at other Montana communities and see that we can compete when it comes to high quality entertainment, healthcare and businesses.

Ghost Town

I grew up in Great Falls and have lived here for four decades. As a kid, downtown had large department stores suitable for back to school shopping and the occasional 4th of July Parade my parents may have taken the family to. As a teen, it was the place to be on Friday and Saturday nights; cruising down Central Avenue with all the other kids in their cheap cars (me) or seeing others in Mom and Dad's ride. There was plenty of opportunity for teens to get into mischief on Central Avenue on those hot summer nights.

As an adult, the downtown area, up until the last five years, was primarily a place to go for the Christmas Stroll to do some holiday shopping or to see the various parades held during the year. It was not a place I would choose to go for restaurants, entertainment or to just walk the shops.

In short, I was not proud of the Great Falls downtown area. I went to Montana State University after high school and the downtown area in Bozeman, MT was thriving and it was the best there was, in my opinion, in the state. Lots of shops, restaurants and entertainment spaces. When I returned back to Great Falls in the early 2000's to take a music teacher position with the Great Falls Public Schools, the downtown was a ghost town. It was just a gray picture as I look back.

A New Day for Downtown

Thankfully, and because of the efforts of the Great Falls Development Authority and Downtown Development Project, these changes to the downtown are ongoing and more will come. Christian Leinhauser from Great Falls Development Authority and Kelley Pierce from the Downtown Development Project are fielding new opportunities for downtown Great Falls and I'm impressed and appreciative for their efforts. As Christian put it, the main point of the event is "to get people excited about the things going on downtown". I'd say he and all of the presenters did just that.

So many presenters, that are not forgotten but didn't make on the page, made it a wonderful event and it's hard to put all the new developments in a short read. It'll be fun to attend the event in 2023, I'm excited for downtown Great Falls and can't wait to experience the new things that are coming to the Electric City.

Synergy is the air Great Falls. Let's go downtown.

-Jake Blaine