Glacier Park Inc. has further expanded its Montana properties with the acquisition of the St. Mary Lodge and Resort on the east side of Glacier National Park.

GPI, Glacier Park’s largest concessions contractor, purchased the resort that makes up a good portion of the town of St. Mary from Hugh Black St. Mary Enterprises Inc.

According to The Hungry Horse News, principal owners of that business were John Blumfield and Johnny Noe and the sales price for the complex of six facilities on 82 acres was $16 million.

“The addition of St. Mary Lodge and Resort extends GPI’s current operations in and around Glacier and Waterton Lakes national parks,” said Cindy Ognjanov, president and general manager.

“We are very excited about this addition to our company. It gives us the opportunity to offer our guests a wider range of accommodation options on the park’s east side and extends our position as a hospitality employer of choice in Glacier County and in the state of Montana. St. Mary Lodge and Resort is a wonderful facility with a remarkable history in St. Mary, and we look forward to enhancing guest and employee experience in this stunning national park gateway.”

The resort offers 115 guest rooms and includes restaurants, a cafe, gift and sundry shops, a coffee and chocolate shop and a gas station, all at the main east entrance to Glacier Park.

Hugh Black, a Glacier Park ranger in the 1930s, his wife, Margaret, and their six children gradually built the shops, cabins lodges and stores of St. Mary in the decades that followed.

GPI purchased Grouse Mountain Lodge in Whitefish earlier this year.

The company also operates the Village Inn at Apgar, Lake McDonald Lodge, Cabins and Motor Inn; the Rising Sun Motor Inn and Cabins; Many Glacier Hotel; the Swiftcurrent Motor Inn and Cabins; Glacier Park Lodge in East Glacier and the Prince of Wales Hotel in Waterton Lakes National Park.