Plans emerge for brewery building
HEIDI DESCH | Hagadone News Network | UPDATED 6 years, 3 months AGO
Great Northern Brewing Company opened on Central Avenue in 1995, but closed operations in February. (Heidi Desch/Whitefish Pilot)
DEPUTY EDITOR, FEATURES Heidi Desch is the Deputy Editor at the Daily Inter Lake, overseeing coverage of arts, culture, lifestyle, community, and business. Desch leads reporters in developing stories that highlight the people, traditions, and events shaping Northwest Montana, guiding content across print and digital platforms. With more than 20 years of journalism experience, including serving as managing editor of the Whitefish Pilot, Desch is a graduate of the University of Montana School of Journalism. She has received multiple Montana Newspaper Association awards, including part of the team leading the Daily Inter Lake to Best Daily Newspaper in Montana Award and the General Excellence Award in 2024 and 2025. IMPACT: Heidi’s work connects readers with stories that deepen the understanding of the community beyond daily news. | April 8, 2020 1:00 AM
Plans have emerged for the former Great Northern Brewing Co. building on Central Avenue.
The new owner has submitted an application with the City of Whitefish to operate a restaurant and brewery in the space and expand the building. Blackstar Partners, represented by Rob Isackson, has submitted a conditional use permit request to the city for the project.
The owner is looking to increase the hours of operation to be open until 2 a.m., and increase the square footage of the restaurant service area on the first floor by reducing the brewery square footage, adding square footage to the second floor, and proposes to add a rooftop deck and service bar.
According to the application with the city, the CUP is required in order to extend hours of operation and increase the square footage of the service area. Hours are planned from 8 a.m. to 2 a.m.
The rooftop patio will be under the city’s allowed third-story requirement of 45 feet and also set back 20 feet from the north and east property lines to meet city setback requirements. The patio will “not be able to be visually seen very easily from street level” and will match the styling of the existing building, according to the application.
The request is set to go before the Whitefish Planning Board on April 16.
The Great Northern Brewing Co. closed its operations after 25 years in business in February after the building was sold to the new owner.
Isackson and his partners previously completed two separate property transactions to purchase the brewery building and the building that houses Markus Foods in downtown Whitefish.
Isackson previously said the plan was to renovate the Great Northern building to attract a craft brewery to the location. He also said that plans included renovating the Markus Foods building along with the connected building that houses several businesses from Railway Street to First Street. No plans for those buildings have been submitted to the city.
The application for the brewery can be found on the city website at http://www.cityofwhitefish.org/ by clicking on planning and building.
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