Averell Hospitality to develop Riverfront Triangle hotel and conference center; pledges funds to Missoula affordable housing

City of Missoula officials and Averell Hospitality on a public site announcement described plans for a new hotel and conference center on the city-owned Riverfront Triangle parcel along the Clark Fork River, saying the project will include a public plaza and riverfront trail connection and will direct funds to the city’s affordable housing trust fund.

Brian Averell, owner of Averell Hospitality, said the hotel development would generate about $7,000,000 for Missoula’s affordable housing fund over time from a combination of land sales and a share of hotel revenues. “It’s going to cause about $7,000,000 of funds to go to the affordable housing fund in Missoula, over a period of time,” Averell said at the event.

The announcement covered the site’s long history and the next steps for municipal review. Ellen Buchanan, director of the Missoula Redevelopment Agency (MRA), said the roughly three-acre parcel has been city-owned for decades and that the MRA will consider project agreements in early July, with city council committee review and a full council vote expected later that month. Buchanan described previous development attempts dating back decades and said the current proposal is the start of an implementation phase that will move into detailed design.

Project representatives described the main elements now under discussion: a hotel roughly in the 180-room range, about 15,000 square feet of meeting and event space, a grand ballroom sized to serve roughly 500 people for large events, and underground parking that the developers say will meet city code. “There’s about a year’s worth of design time from start to finish,” Averell said when asked about the schedule, and he added he would “anticipate just a little bit after a year” before ground-breaking if approvals proceed on the timetable described by city staff.

Officials described how the city would contribute infrastructure dollars through the urban renewal district using tax increment financing (TIF) to support subsurface utilities and other public infrastructure for the redevelopment. Buchanan and other city staff said the developer will initially pay for construction of public trail and terrace improvements and the city would reimburse those costs through the redevelopment financing mechanism.

Speakers framed the project as catalytic for downtown and the West Broadway corridor. Linda McCarthy, executive director of the Missoula Downtown Association, called the site “the former dump site” and said development here has been discussed for decades; Barb Meehan of Destination Missoula said the additional meeting space will help attract larger conferences and boost the local tourism economy, which she said brings about $490,000,000 a year in visitor spending to the region.

City officials and developers also addressed remaining questions in a brief media Q&A: the MRA Board of Directors is scheduled to consider the project on July 7, city council committees on July 16, and full city council consideration is planned for July 21. City staff said three agreements will come forward for approval: a purchase-and-sale agreement, a development agreement, and a land-use agreement. Officials did not present final construction cost estimates at the event and said cost and tax-impact calculations will be refined during design.

History provided by MRA staff noted many earlier attempts to activate the site, including prior RFPs that did not result in development and a previously proposed mixed project that paused during the COVID-19 pandemic. City staff emphasized that this proposal is the first major project in which the city is partnering with private development to contribute substantially to the affordable housing trust fund.

Organizers closed by inviting media questions and noting staff and developers will be available for follow-up; the city identified next formal review dates for MRA and council consideration and said detailed design and financial modeling will follow if the city and MRA approve the agreements.