Crews with heavy machinery have been deconstructing warehouses on the corner of Johnson Street and North Avenue in Missoula for months. When mayor Andrea Davis looks through the temporary chain-link fence, she sees more than piles of reclaimed materials and an empty lot.
“Where we’re standing right now, we would be probably at somebody’s porch,” Davis says, gesturing to the gravel plot.
The mayor is envisioning a multi-year partnership with local housing developers to build 225 homes on the south end of Missoula. The city unveiled the proposed Franklin Crossing development in late March. The project is an unprecedented effort by the city to boost Missoula’s affordable housing — with a lot of moving parts.
“There’s a lot of complexity, there is a lot of risk, but it is not insurmountable, and we have to just keep pressing forward,” Davis says.
Montana Rail Link sold the property to the city for a discount in 2017, and city officials have been contemplating the site’s future ever since. It hosted a seasonal homeless shelter during the pandemic to serve the city’s growing need. The city council voted to close the shelter last year after running out of funding.
The new plan is to build nearly 200 rentals for people making between 30% and 70% of Missoula’s median income. Market-rate townhomes available for purchase are also part of the plan.
Davis says funding will come from more than a dozen sources, and that’s if the city’s partners win that funding from the state and elsewhere. The affordable units alone are expected to cost more than $60 million.
If all the dominoes fall into place, Davis hopes the project may break ground in the next few years.
