Missoula outlines 'mosaic' plan to activate 45 acres of city land, ties sales to housing fund

Mayor Andrea Davis outlined a 'mosaic' approach to Missoula's city-owned land, saying the city is auditing roughly 45 acres to prioritize parcels for redevelopment rather than treating each site as a one-off decision. "We wanna get them activated," the mayor said as she described using parcels strategically to achieve multiple community goals.

Why it matters: Missoula is facing rising housing costs and constrained municipal resources. City officials told residents that careful prioritization and realistic expectations about market feasibility are necessary to deliver both housing and public amenities.

Details and examples: Davis and staff used several city parcels to illustrate the approach. The Riverfront Triangle Urban Renewal District includes an agreement with Averell Hospitality Group to build a destination hotel with conference space intended to anchor downtown redevelopment and extend utilities across Orange Street. The host noted the Fox Triangle project is expected to generate about $7,000,000 for the city's affordable housing trust fund.

On project feasibility, Chief Administrative Officer Dale Bickel said many public expectations push developments beyond what the private sector can economically support today: "One of the issues that the city has had with redeveloping sites... it's not economically feasible," he said, urging realistic priorities.

Ellen Buchanan, director of the Missoula Redevelopment Agency, reiterated that market conditions have changed since the early 2000s: "It was a very, very different economic time than what we're in today...construction costs were much lower. Interest rates were much lower." She said proposals that worked in 2005–2009 are harder to replicate now without changing the funding mix or scale of development.

Public concerns and process: Residents at a recent neighborhood meeting criticized plans to turn city-owned land over to developers without enforceable affordable-housing provisions and questioned use of urban renewal dollars for planning. City officials said the meeting was part of an intentional public-engagement process and pointed listeners to engagemissoula.com for project updates.

Next steps: Staff and a proposed 2025 task force will continue an audit of city parcels to identify where work should be prioritized and what parcels are 'ready to go.' The city said it will present guiding principles and an evaluation framework before bringing specific projects to the council and the public.

Sources: Mayor Andrea Davis; Dale Bickel, Chief Administrative Officer; Ellen Buchanan, MRA director; host reporting from Wake Up Missoula.