Evergreen business owners are beginning to mobilize to try to deal with the community’s 40 percent vacancy rate in commercial property.

Retail vacancies in Evergreen were discussed during a recent meeting hosted by Montana West Economic Development.

As a result of the meeting, Montana West may host a follow-up meeting of Evergreen business owners in the near future to get their input.

The Feb. 16 meeting included 11 people, including business owners and county officials.

Kelly Danielson, Montana West president and chief executive officer, cited the estimate by Jim Kelley of Kelley Appraisals that almost 40 percent of commercial property in Evergreen is vacant.

Departures of Walmart, Sleep City and Ashley Furniture from Evergreen and last week’s move of the former Kari Dodge dealership to Whitefish have contributed to the retail exodus.

Paul Wachholz, owner of Fun Beverage, said there needs to be a sense of urgency in the community to effect change. T.J. Wendt, owner of a State Farm Insurance office, said there isn’t currently that sense of urgency.

“I’ve been in communities around the country that totally remade themselves,” said Montana West board member Richard Griffin of CenturyLink. He cited Cleveland as an example.

“The days of governments doing this kind of thing are waning because they’re going after discretionary money,” he said.

He noted that some downtown Kalispell buildings are being used for totally different purposes than what they were built for.

Wendt suggested that Montana West use its resources to host a meeting of Evergreen businesses.

“There may be some positive stuff come out of it,” he said.

Wachholz said Evergreen needs to pull itself up by its bootstraps to attract businesses from outside the area.

Wendt said such a meeting could “facilitate the finding of the bootstraps.”

Shane Jackola of Jackola Engineering & Architecture said the firm recently completed a community room for Flathead Electric Cooperative. He suggested the use of the room for the meeting.

Danielson noted that her organization received a $75,000 grant to develop and implement a marketing plan in January.

Montana West hired a local firm, Flying Horse Communications, to produce brochures and a video that market Flathead County businesses.

The brochures and video will be shown at Glacier Park International Airport.

Montana West Economic Development is funded by member fees, its own lending programs and an administrative fee from Flathead County Economic Development, Danielson said. Its phone number is 257-7711.

Reporter Caleb Soptelean may be reached at 758-4483 or by e-mail at csoptelean@dailyinterlake.com.