Missoulian - Businesses have slogan for midtown, look for plan

Knuckleheads BBQ owner Matt Crain ran his restaurant from a location off West Broadway until last November, and he is a member of the Missoula Downtown Association.

But now that his business has reopened in a remodeled building off South Avenue West, he's looking at joining the newly formed Missoula Midtown Association as well.

On Thursday evening, Crain dished out free barbecue to a crowd of nearly 100 people gathered at the Missoula County Fairgrounds for the formal launch of the new association's membership drive.

The Fairgrounds made an appropriate setting, noted Missoula Chamber of Commerce president Julie Gemar Williams, because the grounds have been identified as one of the midtown places slated for change.

The midtown region was designated Urban Renewal District III in 2000, after the Missoula City Council passed a resolution declaring it a blighted area.

In the years since, the area has undergone a major road construction project that changed the traffic flow through the intersection formerly known as Malfunction Junction. Businesses along both sides of the Brooks Street corridor seized the opportunity to expand, remodel or build anew.

The organizers behind the association would like to see every stakeholder have a hand in shaping the neighborhood as it continues to change, said association president Toby Hubbard of University Motors.

Now's the time to come together and create a plan for the community's future, he said.

“There's a lot of development going on,” Hubbard said, “and we decided we want to be in the driver's seat.”

Former mayor of Missoula Dan Kemmis, who spoke to the crowd on behalf of the Missoula Redevelopment Agency, said he was delighted to see the association being formed and hoped it would become as strong a partner with the agency as the Missoula Downtown Association has been.

The redevelopment work that was done downtown would not have been impossible without that partnership, Kemmis said.

Mayor John Engen also applauded the downtown association for its role in creating “a 20-year renaissance, at least,” and suggested community leaders in the midtown area mine that association's experiences for its own lessons.

“Some of those opportunities exist here, and some of them are in play,” Engen said.

He also joked that Missoula's midtown offered one advantage over its downtown counterpart, explaining: “I parked out here for free.”

As they sopped up barbecue sauce from their plates, the crowd was also introduced to the association's seven-member board, which consists of Hubbard, vice president Brent Gyurizca, executive director of City Life community center; secretary Tim Winger, general manager of Southgate Mall; treasurer Mike Size of Community Bank; and board members Jason Erickson of U.S. Bank, Jeremy Keene of WGM Group and Julie Mazza, branch manager at First Interstate Bank's South Brooks Street office.

Hubbard also announced that the association is sponsoring a logo contest, and suggested anyone with an idea visit the association's Web site at www.missoulamidtown.com. The MMA hopes to name a winner in mid-September, he said.

The association already has a slogan, he noted, thanks to MRA executive director Ellen Buchanan.

That slogan, he said, is “Missoula Midtown: We're halfway to everywhere.”

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