Columbia Falls developer Mick Ruis has formally submitted plans for a project that promises to transform downtown.

Ruis plans to build two new buildings on 1.5 acres of land in the city center. The three-story buildings will include a health club with two pools, one of which will be a three-lane lap pool, a sauna, gyms, a wrestling room, a sports bar, additional retail and commercial spaces and 54 apartment-condominium units.

The health club will be open to the public, but renters of the apartments and other Ruis properties in the city will have access as part of their rent fee, Ruis told the Hungry Horse News last week.

“I’m super excited,” he said. “... I’m trying to make a downtown atmosphere where you don’t need a car.”

Ruis plans to tear down the former First Citizen Bank (now Hellroaring Fitness) and other buildings on the block between Fifth and Sixth Street West.

He estimates the project is a $15 million investment. Over the past few years Ruis has invested heavily in Columbia Falls, single-handedly transforming vacant lots and old buildings into new spaces for people to live, stay and recreate.

Ruis has already built an apartment complex off Fifth Street and another condo project Nucleus Avenue. He also built the Cedar Creek Lodge, which he sold to Xanterra Parks and Resorts.

He’s also done some projects in downtown Whitefish as well.

But this project is the first of its kind in the Flathead — a downtown location with housing and a health club combined.

Designed by Montana Creative Architecture and Design, Ruis is seeking a permit for a planned-unit development for the block. He is seeking variances for the city’s height limits on some of the buildings, which would be about 45 feet to the ridgetops. City regulations call for buildings no higher than 35 feet. Most buildings are just a foot above that limit — about 36 feet to the roof peak.

Ruis said the project will be done in phases, with the north building, which faces Fifth Street, starting as soon as permits are finalized.

As that’s going up, crews can work on demolishing the bank and other buildings. The complex will have its own parking.

The project will go in front of the Columbia Falls City-County Planning Board for a public hearing at 6:30 p.m. Tuesday, March 10. The City Council will examine the project at 7 p.m. April 6.