Bozeman garage to sell commercial space for additional lots

By WALT WILLIAMS, Chronicle Staff Writer

The city of Bozeman is looking into selling commercial space on the ground floor of the downtown parking garage - to pay for the top floor of the facility.

Construction is underway for a three-story parking garage on Mendenhall Street that would house up to 352 parking spaces in its first phase. The garage was designed so the city could add another 102 spaces at the top at a later date.

To pay for those extra spaces, Bozeman officials are looking at selling to private individuals some 10,000 square feet of commercial space on the ground level. Those owners would then open stores or other businesses in that space.

“By selling that retail space, we then have money that we can apply back toward that top deck,” Director of Facility Services James Goehrung said Monday.

A request for proposals was advertised and the city has heard from one interested party about buying the space, he said.

The first phase of the downtown parking garage is estimated to cost $9.2 million, while the second phase will likely cost $1.3 million.

U.S. Rep. Denny Rehberg, R-Mont., inserted $4 million into a 2005 federal highway bill to help pay the cost of the garage. Most of the money, however, comes from property taxes collected from downtown business that are held in a special account to pay for improvements in that part of the city.

The 10,000 square feet of commercial space has always been a part of the design of the garage meant to help pay for the facility.

The city still needs to secure an appraisal for the property, Goehrung said. It would also need to work out a buy-sell agreement with the buyer and, after that, work out a condominium association agreement about how the property would be managed.

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