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Aug. 23--One of the last big chunks of undeveloped land in Billings, sitting in the heart of the most densely populated square mile in Montana, soon will feel the scrapes and cuts of graders and dozers.
Beginning Monday, except for local access, Central Avenue will be closed from South 29th Street West to South 31st Street West for three weeks as heavy equipment operators start preparing the site at 2900 Central Ave.
Billings developer Bill Hanser is kicking off Brookshire Commons, a professional office, retail and apartment complex on eight acres of a 16-acre parcel southwest of Central and Brookshire Boulevard. That site lies between Lamplighter Square and Target and the Hunter's Point Apartments.
"Billings, commercially, is definitely on the radar. We have a lot of people moving in," Hanser said. "People like this area for exposure and traffic count."
Hanser Construction is building 48,000 square feet of professional and commercial office space, or eight buildings on eight sites. Three of the commercial lots already are sold. And next year, he'll start building a 74-unit, three-story apartment building.
According to the demographics, more people live in the area surrounding the future Brookshire Commons than any other square mile in the state. Population numbers from 2006 counted nearly 4,717 households with 11,462 residents. The area also is high-growth and relatively high-income.
The average age was 50 in 2006, and the average income was $53,513.
Rather than the cookie-cutter zoning where office buildings are bunched together, homes are clustered and retail stores sit apart and everybody relies on cars to get around, this development tries to blend the three uses.
"The city is trying to accomplish infill, which is critical to minimizing urban sprawl, and the softening of the zoning to emphasize walking between these areas," said George Warmer, a real estate agent with Coldwell Banker Commercial, The Brokers.
As you would expect, land bordering all the traffic on Central will house retail stores and professional offices.
The first project is a dental office on the southwest corner of Central Avenue and Brookshire. The husband-and-wife team of Kevin and Pier Brewer are building a 6,400-square-foot office for their four-dentist practice.
"We're fortunate enough in this economy to be busy beyond our space constraints," Kevin Brewer said. "We're building a building which will double our capacity to 18 dental-patient chairs."
The four-dentist practice attempted to lease more space in Lamplighter Square, but Brewer said they were told that all the additional room was reserved for Billings Clinic.
The Brewers are majority owners, with Dr. E. Wade Wilde owning one-third of the building.
The land and special improvement district fees for the utilities will cost nearly $800,000, the dental equipment will be another $600,000, and the building itself will cost $1.2 million, Brewer said.
The exterior will match the neighboring Jim Boyer offices, with rock facades, some wood pillars and lots of windows. Frank Nienaber, an architect at Studio 4 Architects, designed the building. Construction should start in a month, and the moving day is set for April.
Other retail businesses such as a coffee shop and a three-store mini-mall are slated for the land closest to Central.
The middle section to the south will contain only professional offices, no retail businesses. And the land farthest from Central will be home to the large apartment building. All three zoning categories in the development ban casinos.
CMG Excavation will bring in the sewer and water lines to the property, and a green-space bike trail will run along Central.
Hanser has constructed a lot of large and small family homes, but this is his first large commercial project. Even with the complex annexation and rezoning hurdles, Hanser said, so far this has been a good experience. He knows building, and Coldwell Bankers has expertise in the commercial side.
"It's been a really easy transition," Hanser said.
Mary Kramer and her sons, Ray and Doug Kramer, members of a longtime Billings farming family, own the other nearly eight acres on the parcel.
In 2001, Boyer, who owns Design Builders Inc., broke ground on an eight-acre condominium office project on Kramer farmland just east of Brookshire Commons.
"It's hard to imagine, but a little over a year ago, this land was in the county," Warmer said. "It is an island that stuck out like a sore thumb to developers."
A pedestrian-friendly development fits both the city's goals and the neighbors' wants, Hanser said.
"The neighbors said they would really like a nice sitdown restaurant, medical services and a coffee shop within their area," Hanser said. "We're hitting a need that's out there."
