Looking Back: Out of town investor buys former hospital site for $6.4 million
Whitefish Pilot | UPDATED 3 weeks, 3 days AGO
Diplomas in hand, Koel Abell and Millie Gwiazdon marched to Pomp and Circumstance after the commencement ceremony june 3. About 95 Whitefish High School seniors graduated in the Class of 1986. (Steve Schunk photo)
A look back at past Pilot articles by Julie Engler
50 Years Ago
June 10, 1976
Members of the Whitefish Government Review Commission traced the history of its stand in favor of switching the local form of government to the council/city manager form of government in preparation for the vote. Voters in the city would cast their ballots for or against the new form of government. When it was formed, the Commission began to study the present form of the city government, which consists of a mayor and City Council which is both executive and legislative in function. It began, as its studies advanced, to seek methods which would simplify the structure of the management of the city.
40 Years Ago
June 11, 1986
Some drastic highway changes were in store for Whitefish over the following five years, but residents would have to cope with some less than ideal situations in the meantime. On the calendar was a four-lane highway between the city and Kalispell, scheduled some time after 1990, according to Gary Wicks, Montana's director of the traffic division. First would come a new overpass spanning the Burlington Northern tracks linking the north and south halves of Whitefish, scheduled for 1989. It would replace the narrow, curved overpass there. Public meetings on the design and exact location of the viaduct would be conducted later in the summer.
30 Years Ago
June 6, 1996
As the first 15 precincts reported in, it looked as though supporters of the Flathead Countywide Master Plan update with a 2,189 to 1,959 vote lead would be celebrating when the polls closed, but by the time the last votes were counted, their mood changed as the plan was defeated. 8,396 to 6,592. The final count, taken shortly before midnight, left the opponents of the countywide development plan firmly in control. The final vote, confirmed at 11:42 p.m., assured the hotly contested issue was dead and attention turned to the 1987 Master Plan, which once again set the standards for development in Flathead County.
20 Years Ago
June 8, 2006
An Arizona-based investment and real estate development company agreed to buy the North Valley Hospital property with plans to build high-end condominiums near the river and commercial lots along Highway 93. Matt Buckmaster, a Whitefish real estate broker representing the hospital, said the Aspen Group negotiated a $6.4 million purchase price for the 13-acre site located between the highway and the Whitefish River. Aspen Whitefish NVH, LLC, an affiliate of the Aspen Group, would spearhead the projects, construction and development, with plans for 180 to 200 condominium units in a mixed-use condominium development project.
10 Years Ago
June 8, 2016
Whitefish High Schools commencement ceremony squarely focused on the journey that brought the seniors to graduation day and the bright future they now face. One chapter closes, another begins. “Here we are commencing and beginning again,” graduate Mariah Brown said in addressing her fellow classmates. “It's where we go from here that matters.” Family and friends packed the high school gym to cheer and celebrate with the 127 seniors to graduate with the class of 2016. The many accomplishments of this group, from the classroom to athletics, were noted by Bergen Carloss. An outstanding 16 seniors graduated with a 4.0 GPA, she said, and the class earned more than $5.5 million in scholarships that will send graduates to Harvard, Duke, Princeton and beyond. State championships were earned in track, drama, cross country, speech and debate, golf, soccer, tennis, and the school's first football state championship since 1979.