Sparrow Group, a Missoula-based affordable housing development firm, is moving ahead with plans to build Depot Place, a new senior housing building near downtown Kalispell.

“If everything clicks along without any hiccups, we hope to be in the ground this summer and opening for occupancy about a year from now,” said Alex Burkhalter, project manager and vice president of development for Sparrow Group.

The estimated $3.9 million housing project is expected to go before the Kalispell Planning Board for a conditional use permit sometime in the next month.

The three-floor, 40-unit building would sit on a largely vacant property at the corner of East Center Street and Third Avenue East North. The building would be about 36,000 square feet with an elevator for residents.

The project is being supported with tax credits from the Montana Board of Housing. Rooms would be available for seniors earning up to 60 percent of the area median income.

Buckhalter said his firm is extremely interested in the redevelopment plans Kalispell is working on with the expansion of the West Side Urban Renewal Plan and the ongoing creation of a Core Area Revitalization Plan that focuses on the city’s railroad corridor.

“One of the city’s objectives was to bring some more dense housing back into the urban core of Kalispell, and we’re redeveloping a site that hasn’t been used in quite some time,” he said. “The proximity to the shopping, dining, entertainment and all the other stuff that goes on downtown will be great for our residents.”

Sparrow Group has a half-dozen similar properties around Montana and more in Washington, Wyoming and North Dakota.

“Once they’re completed and the residents move in, they kind of become a community themselves, with lots of good friends and bridge games and movie nights and birthday parties and Bible studies and everything else,” Burkhalter said.

A manager would live on site to handle leases and coordinate activities and events for residents.

Sparrow Group also developed the Spring Creek Apartments off Appleway Drive in Kalispell. Those were built from 2008 to 2010.

“That’s doing very well. We’re always occupied with plenty of folks trying to get in if someone moves out. It’s been a great project,” Burkhalter said.

Sparrow Group has longer-term plans for a second phase that would build another 40 units at Depot Place.

“There’s definitely space for that, but we want to make sure the first one is a success and well-received first,” Burkhalter said.

Reporter Tom Lotshaw may be reached at 758-4483 or by email at tlotshaw@dailyinterlake.com.