The developer behind the Kalispell Center Mall’s impending transformation has shared its concept designs, outlining an overhaul of the mall’s west side to make way for a walkable mix of retail, housing, a hotel and potentially a library branch.

Daniel Fuller of SHOP Companies presented the redevelopment plans to the Urban Renewal Agency in City Hall on Thursday, explaining that the company will seek tax increment financing funds to help pay for the project. The Texas company acquired the mall in 2024.  

“The mall itself, in its current condition, is outmoded and underrealized in terms of its attractiveness to new business, but also in terms of tax generation,” Fuller said.  

The west side of the property would undergo the most dramatic changes, with plans to demolish the former Herberger’s and replace it with standalone buildings along the property’s edge to create park space.  

“It is such a walkable location, so we really want to kind of create these sort of trailhead moments throughout the site to bring people in,” Fuller said. 

SHOP Companies is considering locating the future Kalispell branch of the Flathead County Library on the northwest corner of the property and adding green space around it that would extend along Fifth Avenue West and the Parkline Trial.  

“We think those libraries today are more cultural centers, and they have programs that serve the community in meaningful ways. We want to celebrate that,” Fuller said.  

Just south of the potential library site, the plan calls for a hotel, with two additional buildings to the west that would offer more retail space. One of the buildings could include multi-family housing above it.   

SHOP Companies has been in talks with major retailers — including Lulu Lemon, Kendra Scott, Yeti and Warby Parker — that have expressed interest in opening locations in the future shopping mecca.  

Fuller noted that these retailers are already established in other Montana cities, including Bozeman and Missoula.  

“They’re here. And what’s keeping them from opening is that they don’t have a project that kind of aligns with their brand standards,” Fuller said.  

Fuller said that he is also in talks with a brewery that could be placed near one of the entrances and provide an outdoor space with fire pits. The concept design depicts a photo of the Jeremiah Johnson Brewing Company logo. 

“Hopefully people will take their dogs out and want to stop and have a beer and a bite to eat,” Fuller said. 

Park space and paths lined with trees, sculptures and water features would run between the proposed new buildings.  

The east side of the mall, which will remain standing, would undergo a complete interior renovation as well as facade improvements that will provide coverage from precipitation, according to the design plans.  

“We think that there’s an opportunity here to break up that just sort of monolithic facade by introducing a combination of entries, which would be preferred by most users,” Fuller said.  

If an agreement is reached soon, Fuller said that demolition could begin this year, with the interior remodel expected to be completed sometime in 2028.  

Red Lion Hotel is also part of the redevelopment project.  

The Seattle-based architectural firm Olsen Kundig was behind the concept design, but Fuller hopes to get a local architectural firm onboard as well.  

Dallas — where SHOP Companies is based — features the Katy Trail, a popular path built along a former railroad line. Fuller said the properties bordering the trail have become comparable to beachfront real estate.  

“I think, over time, we believe that something like that will happen here,” Fuller said.  

The company is currently renovating the Whitefish Mountain Center (formerly the Mountain Mall) and recently completed the Larch House, a luxury boutique hotel in downtown Whitefish.  

Fuller said that SHOP plans to ask for $23 million in tax increment financing funds to go toward reconstructing the west side and revamping the east side’s frontage. The total project cost is estimated at $27 million.  

Fuller said that he has family living in the Flathead Valley and has been visiting the area for 25 years. He sought to assure the Urban Renewal Agency that SHOP Companies plan to be long-term owners.  

“It’s not a merchant project where we are trying to just flip it,” he said.  

Reporter Jack Underhill can be reached at 406-758-4407 or [email protected]. If you value local journalism, pledge your support at dailyinterlake.com/support.

    Concept Design for Kalispell Center Mall. (Courtesy of SHOP Companies)
  

    Concept design for Kalispell Center Mall (Courtesy of SHOP Companies)