Missoula Business Fall 2020

INSIDE: New East Missoula pizza eatery • Breweries confront Covid-19 challenge • Missoula's tech companies rebound

Fall 2020 • Vol. 1 Issue 4

Red hot housing market INSIDE: • Housing prices soar • Few apartments for rent • Experts offer solutions • Locals express frustrations • By the numbers

Data Driven Commercial Real Estate Solutions for Owners, Tenants & Investors For more information on how we can help you, visit

The Sterling Standard: Responsive. Results.

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Shining a light on the future.

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NorthWestern Energy’s solar projects throughout the state of Montana, like our work to bring solar panels to the high schools in Missoula, provide clean energy to the power grid – and they’re shaping the future of renewable energy, too. We’re working with local universities, such as the University of Montana, to better understand where solar energy belongs alongside a balanced energy mix. And that research is helping us build a brighter future for the next generation of Montanans.

View more of the story at NorthWesternEnergy.com/BrightFuture 2

MISSOULA BUSINESS FALL 2020

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Love your job? Now you can tell all of Montana about your great workplace Love your job? Now you can tell all of Montana about your great workplace.

The Missoulian and other Lee Enterprises Montana papers are teaming with national research firm Energage to introduce Montana Top Workplaces.

Energage LLC, based in Exton, Jim Strauss Pa., has surveyed more than 22 million workers and 66,000 employers in major U.S. markets to find out what makes some companies stand out as top places to work while other employers suffer with high turnover and poor images.

The same survey techniques being used to rank top employers from Chicago, to Dallas to Washington D.C. and other major markets will be used to

Index:

determine the best workplaces under the Big Sky. There is no fee, and all businesses that participate receive a complimentary, confidential 10-page culture review from Energage. How does the competition work?

Any organization with 35 employees in Montana can sign up for the chance to be recognized as a Montana Top Workplace. State and regional winners will be recognized.

To evaluate aspiring workplaces, Energage interviews employees with a five-minute, 24-question online survey.

Interviews will be conducted October through December. Energage compares those survey results to its industry benchmarks and sends the employer a free snapshot.

MISSOULA BUSINESS FALL 2020

Why participate? It’s more than just the well-deserved bragging rights that come with the honor, though impressing your clients – and competitors – is a great benefit. Being selected a Montana Top Workplace also will raise an employer’s profile and serve as a strong recruiting tool.

Energage then crunches all the numbers from participants across the state and informs those employers who have earned the distinction of being named a Montana Top workplace.

“Our research shows organizations that earn the award attract better talent, experience lower turnover and are better equipped to deliver bottom-line results’” said Energage CEO Doug Claffey. “Their leaders prioritize and carefully craft a healthy workplace culture that supports employee engagement.”

In June 2021 the Missoulian and other Montana Lee papers in Billings,

The honor allows winners to celebrate that recognition with its employees,

Economic indicators Growing Missoula: Housing prices surge Missoulians struggle with housing costs Industry focus:Very few apartments available Opinion: Invest in innovative housing solutions Opinion: Trade-offs required to increase housing The General Public bucks retail trends, expands Tech check: Companies begin pandemic recovery Breweries adapt to coronavirus A 'rage room' comes to Missoula East Missoula gains new pizza truck Giving back: UM, businesses, team up Chamber, Dept. of Labor partner

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Butte, Hamilton and Helena will publish a special section featuring and celebrating state and area top workplaces. Entrants who do not win are not identified and can use the confidential survey feedback to improve their culture for next year’s competition. Depending on the COVID-19 environment, an event also may be held in early summer 2021 to honor the winners.

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building their pride in their workplace.

Here is how one employee summed it up when his company was named a top workplace in Albuquerque, New Mexico: “I always knew this was a great place to work, but now the whole world can see what a great team we are.”

It is time for Montana employers to shine on the stage that until now has not been open to them.

Who can enter? Any organization – public, private, nonprofit or government – with 35 or more employees in Montana. Nomination deadline is Nov. 13. Business owners, managers, front-line staff or even customers can nominate a company. The employer will be contacted

by Energage to verify that it chooses to participate.

To enter go to: https://topworkplaces. com/nominate/montana/, or call (406) 206-9789.

It’s time for Montana to spotlight its best.

Jim Strauss is publisher of Missoula Business, the Missoulian and the Ravalli Republic.

On the cover:

Missoula's Rose Park neighborhood from above.

Publisher Editor Advertising Business editor

Jim Strauss Gwen Florio Toni LeBlanc David Erickson

For questions about news or pitches, contact David Erickson, david.erickson@missoulian.com, 406-523-5253.

For advertising information, contact Toni LeBlanc, Toni.leblanc@missoulian.com, 406-523-5242.

NO PART OF THE PUBLICATION MAY BE REPRINTED OR REPRODUCED WITHOUT PERMISSION. ©2020 LEE ENTERPRISES, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. PRINTED IN MISSOULA, MT, USA.

Please call the Republic Services at 406.543.3157 for more information.

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Economic indicators 2020

$365,000

Median sales price of 169 residential homes sold in August of 2020 in the Missoula Urban Area

$333,625

Median sales price of 818 residential homes sold from Jan. 1 to July 31, 2020, in the Missoula Urban Area

2016

$260,400

Median sales price of 158 residential homes sold in August of 2016 in the Missoula Urban Area

$249,900

Median sales price of 724 residential homes sold from Jan. 1 to July 31, 2016 in the Missoula Urban Area

157

775

Total residential units permitted in the first half of 2020 in Missoula

5.6%

Average percent change in Federal Housing Finance Authority Home Price Inflation in 2020 in Missoula.

Total residential units permitted in Missoula in 2016

5.7%

Average percent change in Federal Housing Finance Authority Home Price Inflation in 2016, 2017, 2018 and 2019 in Missoula.

Welcome Our Newest Team Member, Kayla!

Our Insurance team is expanding and we are happy to welcome Kayla Jarrett. She recently finalized her licensing requirements for property and casualty coverage and joins Tim Unger and Jim Decker in our Insurance division. Give our team of professionals a call for your insurance and investment needs.

Kayla Jarrett, Sales Associate 6

MISSOULA BUSINESS FALL 2020

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MISSOULA BUSINESS • FALL 2020

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TOM BAUER, Missoulian

Annelise Hedahl, a real estate agent with ERA Lambros Real Estate, stands outside a property for sale in Missoula in September. The median home sales price in the Missoula Urban Area is at $337,950 so far in 2020, according to the Missoula Organization of Realtors.

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MISSOULA BUSINESS FALL 2020

Growing Missoula

Housing prices surge as Realtors say out-of-state buyers flock here

DAVID ERICKSON david.erickson@missoulian.com

A

buying frenzy, with soaring prices and out-of-state buyers, continues to dramatically affect the housing market in Missoula, but at least one data source shows it's just a continuation of a years-long trend.

"Prior to COVID, about a third of buyers would be from out of state," said Annelise Hedahl, a Realtor with ERA Lambros Real Estate in Missoula.

"That's flip-flopped to now two-thirds are from out of state. What's interesting is local Missoula buyers have so quickly been priced out of the market."

She represented a local buyer on a house in the South Hills. It got 12 offers, and her offer was $20,000 above the asking price.

"We got third place," Hedahl explained. "It's happening so quickly.

We are seeing escalator clauses, which means people will write in their offer that they'll go $1,000 above the highest offer up to $20,000 above asking, for example."

She said cash offers used to get people discounts on prices, but all it does now is move you to the front of the line. Buyers are waiving the inspections now, as well, just to get a deal closed.

"It's crazy that you forfeit that," Hedahl said. "It's like, whatever, rodents don't matter."

When houses are selling for more than they're appraised for, she said properties are being "hyperinflated."

Even Missoula's traditional workingclass neighborhoods are seeing huge price spikes.

"This is so depressing," Hedahl said.

"You take the Northside or Westside.

I love those neighborhoods. There was

one a block off the Poverello Center (homeless shelter). It's a beautiful property. I know an agent, and their client went $10,000 over asking, and it was already high-priced for the neighborhood. And they got fifth place."

She has to tell her clients that they can't wait on putting in an offer and need to go over the asking price, even though the Missoula Urban Area's median home sales price soared to $337,950, according to a mid-2020 update in September from the Missoula Organization of Realtors. For just the month of July, the median sales price was a whopping $370,000, according to the MOR.

from home and is trying to buy a house in Missoula.

"Her budget is pretty healthy," Hedahl said. "She said she doesn't think she's ever going back to (Facebook headquarters in California), but she doesn't plan on retiring. She might commute back and forth and maybe Airbnb the house or rent it and keep it as a summer home."

Hedahl is a former Missoula City Council member, and she's not sure how the city could do much in the

are coming from besides from casual conversations and anecdotes because Montana is a non-disclosure state, meaning the former address of property buyers is not public information.

"I've had a ton of people from Washington, definitely California, the Seattle area and strangely enough a few from Texas," she said. "One gal from San Francisco said, 'Gosh, the prices here are terrific,' but some people say 'Gosh, the prices are on par with

Hedahl said people assume she loves when prices go sky-high.

"People say, 'You Realtors must be loving it,' and I always say no, I just want to sell reasonablypriced homes to people," she said. "I have to tell my clients they gotta go higher or they're probably not going to get it. The overall temperature is this sort of heightened frenzy."

There's a lot of disappointment for buyers. For sellers, it's the opposite.

Hedahl had a $1.25 million listing and coached the sellers by saying they might have to wait a while and play the long game.

"I had it on the market for six days and had six showings and a cash offer," she said.

Hedahl has a client who works for Facebook who decided she can work

short-term to prevent the price inflation that's happening.

"How do you stop a mass exodus from the huge metro areas to amazing places like Missoula?" she said. "I think we've just gone through the greatest experiment as a nation: All of you have to stay home for months. We also were able to really re-evaluate the need and necessity of commuting."

She can't tell where her clients

Portland, Oregon.' It's all perspective."

Hedahl knows that wages in Missoula don't compare with bigger cities.

To purchase a home priced at $315,000, the median sales price in 2019, a family would need an income of $98,123 (and a 5% down payment on a 30-year conventional loan) to afford that home. Meanwhile, the actual median income for a two-person MISSOULA BUSINESS • FALL 2020

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household was $58,688 in 2019 in Missoula. That's according to data from the Missoula Organization of Realtors.

in recent years before COVID-19, at least according to data from the Federal Housing Finance Authority.

"The saddest thing is all the people I grew up with around, here, eventually it's going to be too expensive to live here," she said. "I remember when I was on council, experts would talk to us and say the trajectory we're heading for is Boulder, Colorado. We were all adamant that no, it's Missoula. It's never going to happen. But now, oh my gosh, it's happening."

"In most parts of Montana, they do not suggest that COVID accelerated home price growth through June," Ward said. "Annually, home prices rose at roughly the same (rapid) pace as recent years, and actual (second quarter of 2020) appreciation was fairly weak."

Many buyers have Montana roots, she said.

"Surprisingly, a lot of them grew up here or have some sort of tie here," she said. "They grew up here and now want to get a piece of Montana before it's too late, sort of like the old gold rush."

Hedahl wouldn't be surprised if developers put more thought into building home offices into homes now.

Bryce Ward, an economist at the University of Montana, said the housing price growth in Missoula doesn't seem to be accelerating any more than it has 10

MISSOULA BUSINESS FALL 2020

He said the data from July and August might tell a different story.

"People are freaking out about housing prices on Twitter, but these data aren't consistent with the anecdotes," he said. "To the extent that people are talking about the crazy things in the housing markets in April, May and June, these data don't suggest there was some sort of massive change in the nature of housing price appreciation at least."

Missoula's Housing Price Index averaged a yearly 5.7% increase from 2016 to 2019, and in just the first half of 2020 it increased 5.6%, according to the Federal Housing Finance Authority.

In their own words: Missoulians struggle with housing costs Here are the words of Missoula community members who are struggling with the cost of housing:

Erika Fredrickson, freelance writer: "It really is disheartening to see my hometown change in this way. I thought one day I'd be able to afford a house here and now I'm wondering if--when/if I have to move out of my current apartment--I could even afford to rent an apartment that doesn't feel like a high-priced shack.

And I've got a pretty solid income right now, so I can't imagine it for other people. I look at the prices of modest rentals and it makes my blood boil. So many of us who want to invest in this community are just going to have to leave. I know this isn't news to anyone, but just feeling the despair and anger today."

Rebecca Loren Merfeld, case manager: "I left Missoula two years ago to move to Hamilton because I couldn't afford to live there anymore. There's a housing availability crisis. Rent is shooting up, people are getting squeezed out now. I lived in Missoula in 2004 and came back in 2009.

Housing prices since I left jumped to the point I couldn't pay my own rent anymore. I cleaned the house I was living in to pay rent. And I work as a case manager. I have a professional job. I make almost $17 an hour.

I still couldn't find anything. I'm probably going to have to leave Montana because of the high cost of living.".

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Very few apartments for rent; Missoula renters face obstacles DAVID ERICKSON david.erickson@missoulian.com The number of available apartment units in Missoula has taken a nosedive and average rents are surging as demand outpaces supply. And that means landlords can be more choosy in who they deny, including people with poor credit history or people recently returning from incarceration or who have a criminal history.

Paul Burow, a local Realtor, real estate broker and property manager with 12

MISSOULA BUSINESS FALL 2020

Professional Property Management, said there’s “close to zero” apartments available in Missoula.

"Unfortunately, with a high waiting list and stuff like that, landlords can pick and choose who they want to rent to," he said. "Poor credit or three dogs, all that kind of stuff might be an issue for some folks. It's going to be tough for them.

Everyone is going to pick the person with good credit, good rental history and references. I feel bad for people who might be having some issues."

There's been a severe recent shortage of rental units and a corresponding hike in prices according to a recent report from Sterling Commercial Real Estate Advisors in Missoula, a company that puts out quarterly reports on various aspects of the real estate industry for investors. They put out a report on Sept. 1, so the data presented here is reflected in that date.

property management companies offer as move-in bonuses.

Their survey of over 5,600 market-rate apartments in Missoula found a vacancy rate of 1.2% as of Sept. 1, increasing rents and none of the usual incentives that

Mellott said national vacancy rates fluctuate from 4% to 7%, and cities like San Francisco, New York and L.A. have vacancy rates below 4%.

"Last year at this same time, the vacancy rate was 3.3%,” said Matt Mellott of Sterling CRE Advisors. “Everyone in the rental market feels a 2% drop in vacancy, whether that means paying more for rent or struggling to find a place when you need to move.”

In Missoula, asking rents in the third quarter of 2020 went up 7.5% over the second quarter. The average asking rent in Missoula is now $1,005, he noted. Rents are actually lower here than the national average of $1,463, which may explain why people who can work from home are moving here with their big-city wages.

City Council as much earlier this year when they asked for a budget increase.

"When the entire county is included, close to 900 new housing units (all types)

"It's kind of like, it's always a good idea, but just not in my neighborhood," Burow explained of why high-density projects in Missoula are so few and far

Burow works with the Missoula Organization of Realtors on apartment vacancy rate reports, and he talks with many in the industry.

"In Missoula, Development Services planners estimate approximately 600 new housing units need to be built yearly in the city to keep up with demand,” Sterling’s report stated. "However, 2020 is not on track to meet local needs. As of June 2020, permits for 232 new homes (for sale & multifamily) had been issued in Missoula County per the U.S. Census."

Burow said building permits are down significantly from where they were two to three years ago.

"Development costs are tough," he said. "Available land is tough. Financing, that kind of stuff is favorable to builders, but it's slow to get any kind of project approved through permitting. It's not a six-month process. It takes years."

Mellott said the city's development services staff is understaffed and overwhelmed, and staff told the Missoula

Burow said that if the University of Montana hadn't experienced such a huge decline in students over the past decade, there might be 5,000 more renters in Missoula to make the problem even more acute.

"If UM ever gets enrollment turned around and get to max enrollment, that could be real scary," he said. "Right now there's a huge hole of people that aren't here."

“I talk to other property managers in town, and everybody has a pretty long waiting list for apartments,” he said. “When new apartments come on the market, there’s already people waiting.

It’s been a weird year with a combination of nobody moving out of apartments because they’re all hunkered down due to COVID. And I think we just had a huge influx of people working form home, so people are leaving big cities to work here.”

Burow and Mellott also pointed to the fact that there’s been a dearth of new multi-family housing constructed in Missoula in relation to a growing population.

rates. The University of Montana's dorms are operating at lower capacity, due to virus safety precautions.

He also observed that one strange side effect is that property managers aren't even listing new apartment openings because they have such a long backlog of applications in. They're simply calling people who've already applied and filling the units that way, so the apartment never comes on the market. Also, because prices for home sales have been skyrocketing in Missoula, Burow said a lot of homes that might ordinarily be listed for rent are simply being sold.

A chart showing the vacancy rate from the third quarter of 2019 compared to the third quarter of 2020 in Missoula, (bar graphs). The graphic also shows rent prices (line graphs). Since January 1,115 apartments have been delivered in Missoula with an estimated 72 expected to deliver before year-end. An additional 180 units are under construction and expected to deliver in 2021. In planning, there are 909 units, but only 70 of those are in the active permitting phase. are needed per year to keep up with population growth," Mellott explained in the report. "One such project near Grant Creek was denied its rezone request recently by the planning board due to neighborhood opposition.”

A developer in Grant Creek had proposed a rezoning which would allow him to build many more apartments than he already is, but neighbors protested the project saying it would lead to traffic congestion and safety issues.

between. "I could see both sides of it.

They need to figure out a way to add more units."

Burow said the city's recent push to ease restrictions on accessory dwelling units, or backyard cottages, might help a little, but he said "an alley house here or there isn't going to put a dent" in the shortage.

Both the ROAM Student Housing and the Sawyer Student Living, both large new off-campus college student housing complexes, are reporting 97% vacancy

The problem of a housing shortage has been a slow-moving train wreck that Missoula has been unable to avoid the past few years, he added.

"Nobody could predict a massive influx of people working from home, but there's nothing in the pipeline to accommodate the demand," he said. "It shouldn't be this difficult to add units, but it seems to be. Everybody knew this was coming."

Mellott said he's focused on the big picture and said the city's staff need more help.

“It’s a complex problem, made up by a lot of factors," he said. "Pointing the finger at incoming residents or scoffing at higher density housing isn’t a solution.

We need to support more efficiency in Development Services so developers can start making up some of the ground lost in regards to housing. Population growth is coming, it’s here already. How we handle this moment is key for Missoula’s future.”

MISSOULA BUSINESS • FALL 2020

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Opinion

Time to invest in innovative solutions to housing

Bob Oaks executive director of North Missoula Community Development Corporation

14

Hermina Harold executive director of Trust Montana.

MISSOULA BUSINESS FALL 2020

The Missoula Organization of Realtors reported that for the month of August 2020 the median sale price of homes in the city was $365,000 and that there were more homes sold in that month than in any of the previous five Augusts. People here looking for places to live are intimately aware of our housing crisis. It is more dire now than at any previous historic moment.

Without concerted political will and meaningful contribution from the private sector, the character of Missoula will soon be less equitable and diverse than it has ever been.

Missoula’s housing affordability crisis can’t be blamed solely on the pandemic, but the situation has intensified the influx of out-of-state buyers and renters that local wage earners have to compete with. Regulatory affordability tools, many long warranted but overlooked, neglected, politically opposed, or just only recently initiated, were not available to protect us from the Covid

gentrification storm. Our good fortune is that the pandemic has not brought us the tragic fatality numbers of some other areas. It has, though apparently brought us a dramatic influx of people wealthy enough to flee other places or look for a safer place to park their real estate assets.

Five years ago, the urban theorist Richard Florida wrote in the on-line City Lab Journal that Missoula had already become an "expensive surprise" among 300 sample cities nationwide.

In 2015, a Missoula worker would need to spend 5.9 times their median annual income to buy a median-pricedhouse. Keila Szpaller followed in the Missoulian on the emerging needs for Missoula's leaders to take urgent action.

Now, in just the past several months, that affordability gulf has once again significantly widened.

Noting an ongoing absence of the kind of policies we believe our community needs, we give hope-filled credit to

the City of Missoula's Housing and Community Development Department and to Missoula City Council for the recent enactment of a Housing Trust Fund Resolution and Ordinance. We must look forward to a time when additional funding mechanisms shouldered by the entire community - can be brought to that fund.

We now hear anecdotally from realtors that there are home sale bidding wars happening in Missoula with many sightunseen, out of state cash purchases. Even preceding this current buying frenzy, it has been interesting to see who was purchasing many of the new homes in Missoula that have been priced so far out of reach. David Erickson reported just two years ago that in Missoula County, more than 40 percent of the combined total adjusted gross income came from non-wage sources (e.g., transfer income / investment income). At that time, Missoula ranked in the top 10 percent of communities nationwide for non-

wage-earner income. He then wrote that the ramifications of more affluent investor purchases in Missoula needed better understanding. This is magnified and exacerbated currently. Our current market situation dispassionately and unemotionally victimizes our existing working class, those more marginally employed, and those who receive public assistance.

Income inequality has, for several years, increasingly presented as an acute local problem. Still surprising to many, are data reports that "Missoula was higher on the [inequality] list than Boulder, Colorado, No. 44 and Bozeman, Montana, at No. 69." These data comport with the University of Montana's Bureau of Business and Economic Research's (BBER) two-year-old Montana Economic Report reflecting rising inequity: "Nationally, the median home is worth 3.56 times the median [family] income.

In Montana though, this ratio is 4.32 and in Bozeman and Missoula it is 5.68 and 5.81, respectively… Bozeman and Missoula fall in the 95th [disparity] percentile among all metros. Their ratios are higher than those found in Denver (4.85), Seattle (4.98), Portland (5.02) and Miami (5.07)." Even when some entrylevel homes are developed, they are often snatched up by investors for use as rental properties. Vacancy rates for rentals are fast approaching zero percent.

In January of 2018 "Making Missoula Home: A Path to Attainable Housing," was presented by the Santé Fe Consultant, Werwath and Associates to the Missoula Community. Largely funded by the Real Estate and Development industries, and colloquially referenced "The Realtors' Report," that study informed the base of Missoula's new housing policy "A Place to Call Home." In keeping with The Realtors' Study, much attention is given to exploring strategies that might increase housing supply, but much less attention is given to potentially powerful regulatory tools.

Supply-side recommendations focus on density, reduction of parking requirements, easing of park land setasides, encouragement of accessory dwelling units and the avoidance of subdivision review for some townhouse projects. Regardless of the intent, one only needs to look throughout our neighborhoods at the prices of new infill projects to understand that they have had unintended consequence: we continue to see dramatically increasing land and

property costs regardless of how dense the developments are, in large part because the demand does not just come from local residents’ ability to finance. Merely building more homes can’t fix the crisis we are in unless some of those homes are required to be affordable to begin with, and remain so in perpetuity.

Unlike a similar study in Bozeman, Werwath and Associates did not recommend mandatory inclusionary zoning (IZ) policy in Missoula – requirements that private developers add a percentage component to the truly affordable housing stock when developing projects of a certain scale. Prefatory to the City-adopted policy and at the authors’ urging, an IZ study group was formed to examine how such mandatory policies could harness some of the power of the private housing market.

It has been argued that requiring private developers to add to the affordable housing stock would be detrimental to the production of housing overall. The IZ group was ultimately stymied by this prejudice and officially disbanded. Now, as our housing has moved well out-ofreach for average workers, is it time for us to reconsider what we’re willing to do in order to ensure homes are attainable to people earning Missoula wages? Should we rather accept a community fate as a housing production facility that provides a commodity for others to profit from?

Builders all around the country have figured out how to work within the parameters of inclusionary policies, and we should be able to expect the same amount of creative problem solving from our talented local builders.

Mandatory policies that ensure developers must contribute to the development of affordable homes are not new and they are not radical, but many influenced by those who benefit from skyrocketing home prices feel inclusionary policies should only be employed as a last resort. How dire does the situation in our community need to be to trigger this last resort? The city's stance a little more than one year ago was that only adequate citizen pressure could motivate the city to craft IZ policy. We hope such pressure builds and, if so, we hope it is heard.

Inclusionary zoning alone will not enable a community to build itself out of a housing affordability crisis. But

it is an important tool to engage, and there are many ways to design such a policy to ensure it works. A microcosm example of what could be accomplished with such policy is the recent municipal requirement that the condominium development on S. 4th St. E. include some affordable homes. The ability for City Council to require affordability was only available because a street vacation was needed to complete the project.

Adopting IZ policies could give Council this same authority much more broadly.

We hold hope for our new Housing Trust Fund but need to emphasize that its potential impact will be best augmented with a representative selection on its Citizen's Oversight Committee. Common Good Missoula recommended to Council inclusion of 30 percent Black, Indigenous, and People of Color on this committee. The Missoula Home Coalition recommended at least 50 percent renter representation.

Council chose not to statutorily require either, but I urge them to honor such a selection in appointments. We additionally urge Council to strongly embrace a commitment to prioritize the spending of Housing Trust Fund monies on homes that are affordable in perpetuity. We have seen how quickly entry-level units disappear into the accelerating market if there are no affordability restrictions in place.

Ultimately, we feel that the success of the Housing Trust Fund will hinge on both public and private sector contributions. This is accomplished in other cities by requiring not only general fund and urban renewal district contributions but also by dedicating regulatory fees from high-cost development (linkage fees); IZ in-lieu of fees; and, voter-approved special bond revenues. We feel more confident such revenues will be fully explored if Common Good Missoula and its Housing Research Action Teams, the Missoula Home Coalition's membership organizations and client base, and the 1700 for Liberation (the1700.org) find representation on the Housing Trust Fund’s Citizen Oversight Committee.

In hope for possible new regulatory tools, local groups continue efforts to meet the insatiable housing need. Trust Montana, a statewide community land trust (CLT) that preserves the affordability of homes, farms, and other land-based assets, is now coordinating with Missoula County to establish a scattered site CLT

program, which will assist low-income households in purchasing market rate homes and will preserve the homes’ affordability in perpetuity. The NorthMissoula Community Development Corporation has helped more than 100 households into ownership and has long advocated for much-needed CLT home ownership at a residentially-cleaned White Pine Sash site (now in city ownership).

Both organizations look to the unprecedented opportunities at the former Sleepy Inn location and the old downtown library block to create desperately needed housing opportunity for downtown workers.

In addition to community land trust efforts, Missoula is lucky to exist within the service areas of many expertlymanaged organizations that work hard to lessen the burden of government by ensuring there are more homes people can afford: NeighborWorks Montana’s Resident Owned Communities program provides opportunities for mobile home residents to gain control of their communities and protects the residents from displacement. Homeword and Missoula Housing Authority work tirelessly to fulfill the need for affordable rentals. The Human Resource Development Council provides invaluable down payment and rehab assistance.

All these efforts need local community support and investment if they are to have any chance of competing with the overwhelming outside market pressure on our land and housing resources.

Investing resources to ensure there are homes people can truly afford in this city would be an investment that benefits us all. We must decide that housing is a human right worth that investment. Please take interest in our new Housing Trust Fund. Apply to serve on its Oversight Committee. Also please consider: if Fort Missoula Regional Park was worth $35 million, and the recent Open Space Bond worth $15 million, and our new Library worth $30 million, how much is housing our neighbors worth?”

This piece was co-written by Bob Oaks, Executive Director of the North Missoula Community Development Corporation, and Hermina Harold, Executive Director of Trust Montana. This piece is endorsed by Jon Ellingson of Big Sky 55+.

MISSOULA BUSINESS • FALL 2020

15

Opinion

Trade-offs required to increase housing in Missoula

flexible home type that allows Missoulians In the past several years, Missoula has seen remarkable growth in its economy and to age in place, live at home while they population. Missoula is a community with attend college, or pay off their mortgages incredible people and an attractive quality more quickly with added rental income. of life. The very nature of They play an important role in our community and our our strategy as a city to improve collectively-held values are housing affordability. The proposed what make Missoula a great amendments will eliminate place to live. This growth and cumbersome owner-occupancy vitality, however, has brought requirements and parking standards challenges. Home prices that have severely limited ADU continue to steadily increase, construction. outpacing wage growth and • Establishing an Affordable causing housing affordability Housing Trust Fund to ensure to be a real challenge for many a consistent and predictable Missoulians. From young funding source for affordable families to retirees, students ERAN housing. The Affordable Housing to large employers, the PEHAN Trust Fund will benefit from an increasingly expensive housing annual contribution from the Director, City of market is unaffordable to City of Missoula’s general fund, Missoula Office more than half of households as well as a dedicated allocation in Missoula. of Housing and of one million dollars from the Tasked with maintaining Community Missoula Redevelopment Agency’s our dynamic community Urban Renewal Districts. These Development while managing growth sources, coupled with other grant and change effectively, programs, will ensure a minimum the city adopted A Place to Call Home, investment of $1.5 million in the creation Missoula’s housing policy, last June. This and preservation of affordable housing in policy proposes a fundamental shift in how Missoula each year. the City of Missoula prioritizes housing in In addition to policy level changes, the our programs, policy implementation and City of Missoula has made significant investments as well as a commitment to investments in the name of affordable long-term funding of housing initiatives. housing since the passage of A Place to Call The recommendations found in the Home. These strategic investments include: policy attempt to both spur and harness • Providing $2.3 million in funding the market to better provide homes at a to the Villagio, Low Income Tax Credit wide range of entry points. In addition to construction that will provide 200 rental creating a clear roadmap for the city, the homes that Missoulians can afford. This adoption of housing policy allowed us to plant our flag – clearly stating our belief that project is scheduled to break ground in the spring of 2021. housing is a basic human right and that we are going to work tirelessly and strategically • Providing $800,000 in funding to to ensure everyone in our community has a the Trinity Development, Low Income place to call home.

Tax Credit construction that will provide an additional 200 rental homes that In the first year of implementation, we have been hard at work amending code and Missoulians can afford, thirty of which will be dedicated to formerly homeless creating programs and policies that will individuals. In addition, this project will support the creation and preservation of include a Homeless Navigation Center affordable housing. These include: to provide health, behavioral health, and • Drafting proposed amendments to our zoning code that will decrease barriers to the housing support to people living in chronic homelessness. construction of Accessory Dwelling Units (ADUs). ADUs take many forms and are often above garage apartments, backyard homes or even a legally converted basement apartment. ADUs provide a diverse,

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• Providing $375,000 to fund homeowner rehabilitation, supporting households on a fixed income in maintaining safe and secure homes.

• Providing $890,000 in funding to the Meadowlark, new construction that will provide temporary housing and supportive programming for 31 families and 13 survivors of domestic violence.

The policy also recommends the strategic acquisition of high-opportunity sites for future affordable housing development, referred to as land-banking. In the first year of implementation, the City has made significant progress in this area, including: • Investing $1.1 in the purchase of the former Sleepy Inn to provide urgently needed non-congregate shelter during the COVID-19 pandemic and affordable housing through the redevelopment of the site in the near future.

• Investing $6.6 million dollars for the purchase of 18 acres on Scott Street, approximately half of which is appropriate for the development of homes Missoulians can afford.

In addition to these purchases, the City of Missoula recently acquired land adjacent to the Montana Rail Link Park in mid-town and the Payne Block, the site of the former Missoula Public Library, in downtown Missoula. Both sites are being considered for the development of homes aimed at households of all income levels in our community.

While we’ve made tremendous strides, there is still significant work before us.

Altogether, the housing policy proposes the development of more than two dozen policies and changes in code. The majority of the recommended changes in code involve reducing regulatory barriers hindering the market, which has been sluggish in responding to the need for both rental and single-family homes. According to the City of Missoula’s 2015 Growth Policy, we need approximately 9,000 new homes by 2035 to meet modest population projections. To meet this goal, we need to see at least 600 residential units permitted each year. Residential units consist of traditional houses, apartments, condos, townhomes, and ADUs. In 2019, only 463 total residential units were permitted. For 2020 to date that number is dramatically lower, with only 157 residential units permitted. In the coming year, the City plans to focus heavily on regulatory reform that will assist us in moving those numbers

in the right direction.

In addition to this tangible work, we need to continue engaging our community in conversation about housing equity. Housing affordability is deeply tied to the ability to achieve more compact development patterns than many single-family neighborhoods are zoned for today. In the previous half century, Missoula’s zoning, combined with increasing real estate prices, a growing population, and shifting job markets, has limited affordable housing development in single-family neighborhoods. This evolution of economics and cultural and social circumstances are now at odds with the static zoning system currently in place. While some of these impacts on affordability and equity have been ameliorated in recent years by changes to zoning, the vast majority of growth and, by proxy, affordability is still supported by a small number of neighborhoods that were originally zoned for higher density development.

Recent contentious rezoning efforts in traditionally single-family neighborhoods highlight the need to prioritize these conversations. Concerns for more compact development often involve increases in traffic, noise, and parking. They also involve inadequate infrastructure, including parks and sidewalks. We often hear, “This isn’t the right site, don’t force it, find something better.” There is no piece of land in Missoula on which to build homes that does not require some trade-offs. As a community, we need to acknowledge the land scarcity we are working within, address regulatory barriers, and expand our creativity to ensure good development is possible on less than ideal sites. And when we can ensure good development is possible, we need to ask our neighborhoods to welcome it.

Through the adoption of A Place to Call Home, we have our roadmap in hand.

We are tackling regulatory barriers and creating supportive policy. We are also making historic and strategic investments in affordable housing construction and landbanking. And we are working in partnership with the community in ways we never have before. The next several years will require exceptional focus from the City and our partners if we want to make up for lost ground and meet our mandate of ensuring everyone in Missoula has a place to call home.

ASHLEY NERBOVIG For the Missoulian

The General Public bucks retail trends, expands Downtown businesses

Anecdotally, some downtown retailers say that COVID-19 lost them as much as 50% of their business, McCarthy said. However, summer tourism provided a good boost. Similar to Reaves, many have relied on digital platforms to both sell products and engage customers, McCarthy said.

Tucked into the Front Street side of the Florence Building is the thoughtfully curated and newly expanded shop, The General Public.

The General Public, 112 W. Front Street, was one of a small number of retail stores to expand since the pandemic began, according to the 2020 Downtown Missoula Business Activity report, which was compiled by the Missoula Downtown Business Association.

Linda McCarthy, executive director of the association, said many businesses are building up their digital presence, more so than their physical locations.

BEN ALLAN SMITH, Missoulian

Allison Reaves, owner of The General Public, said she almost decided against an expansion given the how the pandemic reduced foot traffic downtown.

“Every year you have openings and closings, and yes there will be more closings before the end of the year,” McCarthy said. “What sets Missoula apart from other places is supporting locally owned businesses, supporting our neighbors.”

Missoulians support Missoulians, McCarthy said.

The “Shop Local” economy is real here.

‘Feels like a real store’

Reaves’ new space is bright, with a minimalist style mimicking an interactive She ended building art gallery. A bottle of hand out the store, as she’d sanitizer sat on a cylindrical rather expand then have display platform near one Allison Reaves, owner of The General Public, to relocate. Reaves isn’t entrance. Cheerful plants expanded her shop during the pandemic and said planning short term. poked out of corners she isn’t planning short term. “Someday, we’ll be past throughout the store. Reaves “Someday, we’ll be past 2020,” Reaves said.

2020,” Reaves said. wanted it to be welcoming. She loves when people take time to look Window shopping at everything in the store, she said. lot before,” Reaves said.

The General Public opened The expansion was done by Jack in April 2019. The store carries Reaves’ Grateful for her already strong digital Metcalf, owner of Real Odd Good Job, own designs as well as clothes by other presence, Reaves said she hoped the larger who helped bring Reaves’ ideas for small, sustainability-focused designers. space would bring more traffic to the the store to life. He even built her an This August, the shop doubled its square undersized red shopping basket, which store. footage and gained a large window to marks the shop’s entrance. display Reaves’ creations.

Since Reaves reopened, she estimated “I keep saying, it feels like a real store about 60% of her customers were from Sitting in her closed shop on Sept. now,” Reaves said. out of the state, which speaks to how 2, the business owner watched multiple groups stop to peer through the new Her mission many tourists are coming to the area, window. It was something she was happy she said. She is still getting an incredible Everything Reaves stocks is sourced to see. amount of support from the local from ethical and sustainable designers.

“It felt like I was getting passed by a community.

She doesn’t want to sound preachy, but

she does want to give people an option for high-quality clothing that doesn’t follow the same practices of the fast-fashion industry.

The global fashion industry produced about 2.1 billion tonnes of greenhouse gas emissions in 2018, which was equal to 4% of the global total, according to a 2020 report by McKinsey and Company, a fashion consultancy. About 70% of those emissions come from energy-intensive raw material production, preparation and processing. The remaining 30% are generated by downstream activities such as transport, packaging, retail operations, usage and end-of-use.

By staying small and being careful about who and where she buys from, Reaves does her best to avoid being part of the fashion industry’s negative effect on the environment. The best choice people can make is to buy vintage, which she also stocks in the store. And she just brought on a men’s wear line.

Grateful and uplifted Reaves is thankful to be in Missoula where people uplift small businesses.

While the pandemic is an intimidating challenge, she could say that about most things involving her fledgling business.

“I’m still so new that everything feels like a roller coaster right now,” Reaves said.

Small businesses are more malleable, more creative and able to pivot faster than larger companies, McCarthy said.

She’s seen Missoula’s businesses innovate as a result of the pandemic. Oftentimes entrepreneurial activities increase when there is an economic downturn, she said.

For anyone ready to take the leap and open their own store, Reaves’ best advice was to remember it doesn’t happen all at once.

“It is just so many baby steps that create one big thing,” Reaves said.

With fall coming up, Reaves was working on the new seasonal inventory, she said. Her next baby step was to get sewing.

MISSOULA BUSINESS • FALL 2020

17

Tech check

Pandemic strikes tech industry, companies begin recovery

TOM BAUER, Missoulian

The new ATG-Cognizant offices in Missoula's Old Sawmill District house most of the company's nearly 200 employees in Montana. ATG's Tom Stergios said the company made no cuts as a result of the coronavirus pandemic.

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MISSOULA BUSINESS FALL 2020

ASHLEY NERBOVIG For the Missoulian

following a statewide shutdown in spring in response to the coronavirus pandemic.

Multiple Missoula tech companies are hiring this fall, as the technology industry starts to inch back from a concerning second quarter when companies such as ClassPass, Submittable and LumenAd downsized their workforces.

“In March everything just sort of stopped,” FitzGerald said. “In retrospect it makes sense. People were just collecting themselves.”

New job postings and regrowth for tech companies and the typically high salaries they offer were good news for the Montana state economy. The tech industry generated more than $2 billion for the state in 2018, according to a 2019 survey by the University of Montana’s Bureau of Business and Economic Research. It also ranked as the third highest paid industry in Montana.

However, three major tech companies with offices in Missoula, ClassPass, Submittable and LumenAd, all downsized at the end of March and beginning of April. Prior to April, Submittable had 130 employees. After hiring back some staff, the company was at just 100 employees as of Sept. 3, said Asta So, head of people at Submittable.

Based in Missoula, LumenAd laid off 18 people at the end of March. On April 3, the company reported it had retained 78 jobs, according to its application for a Paycheck Protection Program loan.

ClassPass either laid off or furloughed about 53% of its workforce across all locations in April, according to a report

by Yahoo Finance; prior to the pandemic, the company counted well over 200 employees in downtown Missoula, its largest office.

Some resilient companies, such as Advanced Technology Group, reported no downsizing as a result of the pandemic. But ATG wasn’t the only one with job postings this fall, with ClassPass, Submittable and LumenAd all advertising for open positions on their respective sites as of Sept. 16.

Submittable CEO Michael FitzGerald was confident in the continued expansion of technology companies in Montana

Areas of growth Opportunities for tech companies have continued. For instance, Submittable is a submission management platform that began as a way for publishers to review manuscripts sent in by authors.

However, in the past three to four years, grant application management was a growing part of Submittable’s business.

As governments began to establish grant programs for people affected by COVID-19, the Missoula tech company began to see a surge in clients, FitzGerald said. There was also an increase of grant programs for BIPOC-owned (Black, Indigenous, and People of Color) businesses after the deaths of George Floyd and Breonna Taylor caused a resurgence in the Black Lives Matter movement.

Submittable was handling multiple grant processes for the state of Montana as of September.

Hard pivots While the pandemic didn’t force companies such as Submittable to make drastic changes to its business model, the same can’t be said for ClassPass, which made some hard pivots in the past two quarters. ClassPass is a subscription service that allows people to take fitness classes at many different locations for one monthly fee. In March, pandemic-related shutdowns forced more than 95% of ClassPass fitness and wellness partners to temporarily close their physical locations, said Kinsey Livingston, ClassPass’ vice president of partnerships.

This sudden change to the company’s business model stymied its plans to add 100 new employees in 2020 in Missoula, Livingston said. It also caused furloughs and lay offs.

“We quickly hustled to launch a livestream platform as a way for our studio partners to earn revenue, and a way for our community to stay active and keep part of their routine from home,” Livingston said.

Livingston called the response "tremendous." ClassPass helped more than 4,000 partners add on-demand and livestream classes, offering about 50,000 digital classes a week. The company waved its commission, sending 100% of digital revenue back to the businesses, Livingston said.

ClassPass opened new roles across its company, including several positions based in Missoula.

“ClassPass plans to support both digital and in-person options moving forward, as long as the demand remains,” Livingston said.

Some loan relief Based in the Florence Building downtown like Submittable, LumenAd is a technology company with a platform that helps marketers run and track advertising campaigns.

After layoffs in late March, the company received a $1-2 million PPP loan. On Aug. 10 and Sept. 15, the company posted on its Instagram page it was hiring for several positions. In an email, LumenAd Director of Operations Marion Talmo requested LumenAd not be mentioned in this article and declined to answer questions. LumenAd CEO Ryan Hansen also did not respond to an email requesting information.

Resiliency through a downturn ATG made no cuts as a result of the downturn, said Tom Stergios, a senior vice president for the company. ATG, which offers tech solutions to other businesses, was bought by Cognizant at the end of 2018. "Digital technology use is on the rise and transforming as we move through the pandemic," Stergios said. The company was hiring technical

analysts, project managers and software engineers for its Missoula office.

A new model of work Part of the resiliency of the tech industry comes from the ability of employees to work from home.

Submittable was one of the first local companies to go fully remote, sending its employees home March 16.

To help staff with the transition, Submittable provided employees a remote work stipend, So said. Employees are also allowed to work at the Submittable offices, also in the Florence building, as long as they’re feeling well and reserve the time. The number of employees allowed in the office at the same time is limited, she said. The management team was reviewing plans for how employees might return to work; however, the option to work remotely will continue through the end of the year.

The company was able to reopen its daycare in July, So said. In addition to the account manager positions and software engineers, the company was also hiring for a substitute early childhood lead teacher as of Sept. 17.

While these hirings may be a good omen for the company and the tech industry, it will take time to fully recover.

In July, Montana’s professional and business services sector still employed about 3,300 fewer people than in March 2020, according to preliminary numbers from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.

Submittable itself was still about 30 people smaller than it was prior to the pandemic.

“The company is doing well, but it is painful that we haven’t figured out how to get everybody back yet,” FitzGerald said.

And, FitzGerald said, far more painful for those former employees who are out of work.

MISSOULA BUSINESS • FALL 2020

19

Meeting the challenge

TOM BAUER, Missoulian

A sign at Bayern Brewing paired with the bar being roped off during the first phase of reopening. Tables have been spread out, with a maximum of six people per table.

ASHLEY NERBOVIG For the Missoulian

Breweries adapt to coronavirus

Extending patio season with outdoor heaters and improving indoor ventilation are two solutions taprooms are looking at to keep on-site beer sales strong through the winter months.

Montana was ranked third in the nation for breweries per capita, with a total of 92 open across the state in 2019, according to the Montana Brewers 20

MISSOULA BUSINESS FALL 2020

Association. Already competitive, Missoula’s brewery scene exploded after 2014 with six new breweries opening in as many years.

While Missoula’s population growth might have sustained the new businesses prior to the pandemic, breweries without distribution networks may suffer this winter if on-sale beer sales drop more than they already have.

The old guard sees trouble

Every time a new brewery opened in Missoula, Kettlehouse Brewing Company saw a hit in on-site sales, said Tim O'Leary, co-owner of the Kettlehouse. Kettlehouse and Bayern Brewing, Inc., both opened in 2006. At the time it was just them and Big Sky Brewing, which didn’t have on-site sales. When Draught Works opened in 2011, Kettlehouse’s Myrtle Street location took its first hit, O’Leary said.

Over the past five years, on-site beers sales have continued to drop, he said.

Things got worse after the pandemic began. As of Sept. 18, Kettlehouse’s Myrtle Street location was doing 60% of the retail business it did in 2019. O'Leary said the business closed its Northside location as a result of the pandemic.

“Without our wholesale business, to put it bluntly, we’d be screwed right now,” O’Leary said.

The many sides of brewing

breweries take from the established breweries, Marshall said.

Being a brewery can mean myriad things, said Matt Leow, executive director of the Montana Brewers Association.

Breweries can sell to grocery stores, bars and restaurants, and directly to consumers.

The thing hurting business right now is the pandemic, not the competition, Marshall said.

O’Leary agreed. He didn’t want to sound pessimistic, but rather realistic about how the beer market may change in coming years.

Americans are drinking less beer overall, O’Leary said. In 2019, beer sales dropped by 1.6%, even while craft beer sales increased by 3.6%. Alcoholic drinks in a can are more diverse than ever before, he said. Rather than a growing pie of new customers with Missoula’s increasing population, O’Leary sees a shrinking market of beer drinkers and a growing number of seltzer and hard kombucha drinkers.

A business such as Big Sky Brewing, which distributes beer to 24 states, is much more diversified, and a taproom opening down the street isn’t going to cut into sales much, Leow said. As the industry looks forward to winter, breweries with distribution networks are likely to fare better than standalone taprooms.

Since 2000, the number of breweries in the state grew exponentially, Leow said. Every few years the number appears to double.

“Is that sustainable? Are we going to see 200 breweries in the state in the next 5 years?” Leow said.

With the pandemic, he predicts A Rosé Trois American Sour, a Nama Biru Japanese-Style Rice Lager and a Pineapple a difficult couple of years ahead for Sour are among Draught Works' seasonal beers.

He said he expects the pandemic to slow some of that growth.

Hope in heaters Cranky Sam’s Public House, the retail arm of Cranky Sam Brewing, does not have a distribution arm beyond the public house. It is hopeful its outdoor heaters will keep people coming to the patio through the colder months, said Melisa Lizarraga, a manager there.

One of the newest brewers in town, Cranky Sam’s opened in March, right before brewery shutdowns began.

While it's stressful, uncharted territory, Lizarraga felt the staff and customers rose to the challenge and accommodated the changes required to make it safe to enjoy the taproom.

“We’ve only been open during COVID, so in some ways, this is all we know,” Lizarraga said.

The increased smoke in the area was a good test for what happens when the weather turns bad, Lizarraga said.

new and old breweries alike.

People still wanted to sit outside, which hopefully bodes well for the winter months, she said.

Even if the demand is there, Draught Works won’t be able to meet it and will have to turn people away, Marshall said.

Draught Works also plans to make its patio a cozy option through the winter months, said Paul Marshall, owner and managing partner of Draught Works.

“We should all be nervous, right,” Marshall said. “Winter is coming.”

“I’m always shocked by how many people love to drink outside even when it's cold out,” Marshall said. “People bundle up.”

Still, taproom sales drop overall when temperatures drop, he said.

Draught Works will keep its patio plowed and hope for the nicer Missoula winter days when the weather creeps into the 40s, Marshall said. If people don’t want to sit outside, or if the weather prohibits it, Draught Works seating capacity limitations will reduce sales regardless of whether people feel comfortable sitting inside the taproom.

“It’s a double-edged sword,” Marshall said. “Of course we want people to come, but our seating capacity is 50-60% of what it used to be.”

Draught Works was benefiting from an increase in can sales from grocery stores, he said. People are still drinking, they just aren’t out and about the way they were pre-pandemic, Marshall said.

Beer market changing Even with so many brewers around, newcomer Lizarraga said she’s never felt ill will from other brewery owners.

“From the brewing side, it’s such a welcoming community, people are always looking into collaborations and enjoying each other’s products,” Lizarraga said.

Marshall sees the competitive brewery scene a little differently than Kettlehouse’s O’Leary. Draught Works was the fourth brewery to open in Missoula, and as such, took a larger chunk of business from Bayern and Kettlehouse than any of the newer

“If you can get through these stormy seas, I think it’s going to be the roaring '20s,” O’Leary said.

The winter will be a demoralizing time, O’Leary expects. The business is looking into installing a better ventilation system and hoping the high ceilings will help to keep air moving in the building.

Even if the business pours thousands of dollars into a new ventilation system, it doesn't guarantee people are going to feel safe crowding into a taproom, O’Leary said.

“And I respect that,” O’Leary said.

A lot of the future will depend on what consumers feel comfortable with, Leow said. For people who don’t want to crowd into a taproom, Leow encouraged them to choose Montana craft beer when out at a grocery store.

More than that, Missoulians need to keep their mouths and noses covered when in public, O’Leary said.

“If people want to keep businesses open, we’ve got to wear masks,” O’Leary said.

MISSOULA BUSINESS • FALL 2020

21

Open for business

Break stuff: A 'rage room' comes to town

22

MISSOULA BUSINESS FALL 2020

TOM BAUER, Missoulian

Nicole Goss recently opened Unhinged LLC, a business that lets customers smash objects with bats, sledgehammers, crowbars or just by throwing things.

TOM BAUER, Missoulian

Levi Viergutz and Raliegh Blevins smash objects at Unhinged recently.

David Erickson david.erickson@missoulian.com Missoula’s got a new “rage room” for venting your pent up energy onto an old appliance, glass vase or toilet seat.

Nicole Goss recently opened Unhinged LLC, a business that allows customers to use sledgehammers, baseball bats, crowbars or blunt-edge swords to smash objects that were bound for the landfill. You can either bring your own

objects or use provided junk for a fee.

There’s also a room to smash glass against a cinder-block wall.

Goss said it’s more than just fun.

“I feel that it’s something that Missoula absolutely needs at this point,” she said. “There’s so many angry people around. This is a place people can go and release their frustration and anger and anxiety before going home. And if it saves a kid or a spouse from being the

brunt of somebody’s anger, then it’s a good thing.”

shields, gloves, ear protection and coveralls.

She describes it as a “controlled environment” where people can go break everything from a glass bottle to plates and cups.

Zombie Tools in Missoula is donating the blunt-edge sword, she noted.

“All the way up to glass-top ranges, windows, toilets, sinks and TVs,” she said.

Everyone wears personal protective equipment including hard hats, face

Unhinged is located at 2612 Murphy Street, Unit A, and she’s taking online bookings only, so no walk-ins.

“We have packages from $15 where you bring your own breakables all the continued on page 25 MISSOULA BUSINESS • FALL 2020

23

Open for business

East Missoula gains new pizza truck

TOM BAUER, Missoulian

Tucker McDonald opened up the Pizzeria Gina food truck in East Missoula recently after seeing that the neighborhood was lacking food options.

David Erickson david.erickson@missoulian.com Tucker McDonald opened Pizzeria Gina in East Missoula this summer because their neighborhood was lacking food options.

“We’ve done some restaurant things the last couple years. I’m part-owner of a fast-casual spot downtown, and wanted to bring a little something to East 24

MISSOULA BUSINESS FALL 2020

Missoula,” he said. “My wife and I live three blocks away, and there’s not much happening in terms of food besides The Reno and Ole’s (gas station).”

The food truck is located at 3750 Highway 200, across from Ole’s gas station in East Missoula. They have picnic tables set up for outdoor seating, and they also do call-ahead carry-out orders.

“We do classic homemade sourdough pizzas,” he said. “We have weekly rotating specials. We offer your choice of topping.

We have a four cheese pizza and a white sausage pizza.”

The crust is organic sourdough, and in the past they’ve offered a white spinach pizza with garlic cream and red pepper flakes. All the pies are finished with Pecorino Romano cheese unless

otherwise ordered.

They’re open Wednesday to Sunday from 4-9 p.m. McDonald said that although he’s on a main highway accessed by many river users, most of his customers so far have been locals.

“It’s been mostly neighborhood folks,” he said. “They’re excited to come by. A few have just stopped by because they saw the open sign.”

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“She did research into the amount of cases that have come up from people being hurt and wasn’t overly alarmed,” Goss said. “That makes me happy.”

way up to $75 for two bins of breakables,” she said. “You get two medium items such as TVs, sinks, and one large item like a glass-top range.”

People she’s talked to have been excited about the prospect of unleashing a little bit, she said.

“Home Resource is a great resource for us,” Goss said.

“They’re donating all the stuff they would normally throw in a Dumpster and giving it to us. I’ve also made posts on Facebook asking for glassware and computers that people are getting ready to throw away. I’m getting most of my stuff through those means.”

TOM BAUER, Missoulian

Home Resource, a nonprofit in Missoula that accepts donated home materials and appliances, is donating all the stuff they would usually send to a landfill.

Olivia Goss, left, and Hannah Williams paint a mural in a room at Unhinged recently.

So-called “rage rooms” are fairly common across the U.S., but Goss said she’s never visited one. She and her husband own a restoration company that

her husband runs, but Goss and a friend got the idea on a road trip after talking about how angry people are. The friend went in a different direction, but Goss decided to go through with it.

“I’ve actually only ever seen them

on TV and on YouTube videos,” she explained. “Missoula needed a fun business. I need it daily for myself."

Injuries are very rare, she said, and noted she had a lawyer draw up a liability waiver.

“Oh yeah, people I pick up glass from all the way to city employees I dealt with for permits,” she said. “They all said ‘Let us open, we are going to come down.’ It would be great for a break-up party too.”

The slogan for the business will be “uncage your inner rage,” she said, and she’s reached out to a local anger management counselor to see if clients would be interested.

One of the rooms will hold four to five people, and the other two rooms will hold three people she said.

For more information, find Unhinged LLC on Facebook..

A safer workplace is about five minutes away.

No matter the work, safety works in Montana. But improving safety on the job doesn’t have to be as time-consuming or expensive as you might think. Our library of safety videos is full of simple strategies to protect yourself and your co-workers. And they’re short. So you can get going again, safely. See them all at safemt.com.

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Airbnb blocking some rentals over Halloween to halt parties DEE-ANN DURBIN AP Business Writer Airbnb will prohibit one-night rentals over Halloween weekend as part of its ongoing effort to crack down on party houses.

The action, announced Friday, comes nearly a year after a deadly shooting at an Airbnb in Orinda, California. Five people were killed in the shooting, which happened during an unauthorized Halloween party.

San Francisco-based Airbnb said it will ban one-night rentals of entire homes in the U.S. and Canada on Oct. 30 or Oct. 31. Previously booked one-night rentals will be canceled and Airbnb will offer refunds.

Airbnb said it will also look more closely at two- and three-night reservations during Halloween. A guest may be denied, for example, if they try to book a whole home close to their own home during that period and they don’t have a history of positive reviews on Airbnb.

Airbnb has taken a series of steps to

crack down on parties since last year’s shooting. Last November, it started manually reviewing U.S. and Canadian reservations to weed out suspicious rentals.

The company's efforts have intensified as it prepares for an initial public stock offering, which could come later this year.

In July, the company banned U.S. and Canadian guests under age 25 with fewer than three positive reviews from booking entire homes close to where they live. That policy was later expanded to the United Kingdom, Spain and France. And in August, Airbnb banned parties worldwide and limited occupancy at its rentals to 16 people.

Airbnb has also warned guests and hosts that it could take legal action against violators. In August, for the first time, it started legal proceedings against a guest who held an unauthorized house party in Sacramento, California.

In this 2018 file photo Airbnb co-founder and CEO Brian Chesky speaks during an event in San Francisco.

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Giving back

Michael Legg is the artistic director of the Montana Repertory Theatre.

UM, United Way, and businesses team up to help

ASHLEY NERBOVIG For the Missoulian A play about anxiety that audiences control like a video game will be coming to Montana’s students this fall thanks to support from local businesses.

Blackfoot Communications, ATG and Pacific Health Source Plans all contributed to the Montana Repertory Theatre’s upcoming Education OutReach production, Zombie Thoughts. It will

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be the theater’s first virtual outreach production, an innovation required due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

The play features Sam, an 11-year-old kid, and sidekick Pig. Reminiscent of the Choose Your Own Adventure books, the play allows students to interact with the material while educating them about the effects of anxiety and how to cope. Early on choices include what kind of hat the characters will wear throughout the play

and whether to go to Mount Doom or to a ghost town.

Under normal circumstances, the Rep would have toured the play and reached about 50 schools. However, COVID-19 made it difficult to imagine gathering people together to enjoy theater this year, said Michael Legg, artistic director for the Rep. In rethinking how to make the play available without endangering students and actors, Legg said a silver lining came

out of the situation. Now, any student, educator or parent across the state can watch the play.

“This has the potential to be seen in every classroom and across the state,” Legg said.

Legg gave a lot of credit to the businesses that made donations, which helped the theater build a digital platform and create the virtual adventure for the students. He also highlighted the support

provided by the University of Montana School of Media Arts, which helped design the final product.

Jessica Davis, a theater teacher for the Ronan School District, said she was glad the theater chose to show the play this way, because it not only made it safer for her students, it also will allow her to show it to all her kids. She doesn’t have to worry about pulling students out of other classes to watch the play, she said. As a theater teacher, Davis said she has more freedom to talk to her students about anxiety and mental health, but not as much as she’d like. Bringing in outside speakers always helps, she said.

“Sometimes I worry I’m not reaching them, but then I talk to my students about MT Rep coming again, and they say, ‘Remember that one time that they came and we did this?’” Davis said. “It’s clear it’s getting to them. With this play especially, I get to tell them, ‘They want us to be one of the first schools to watch it, can you believe that? Isn’t that amazing, they chose us?”

Bringing educational opportunities and the arts to students across the state is incredibly important to Blackfoot, said Jason Williams, Blackfoot Communications CEO — especially in

“On a personal level, I have a son about the same age of the main character, and I love that this is something he will get to experience in his classroom,” Williams said.

A strong economic rebound likely depends on people and companies being able to preserve their money, so that it can be spent and invested once the gloom begins to subside. rural areas that might not have highly funded arts programs. There was also an added benefit of the play being about coping with anxiety, which he expects many students may be dealing with during the pandemic.

knowledge about anxiety and other mental health issues.

“Research shows early identification and intervention can improve a child’s well-being and set them on a path to a healthier adult life,” the spokesperson said. “Pacific Source is committed to supporting these types of innovative programs and the positive impact they have on the communities we serve.”

Other partners of the project included United Way, Project Tomorrow, Curry Health Center, UM Department of Counseling and Montana Public Television.

Blackfoot helped to pay for a free public viewing of Zombie Thoughts on Sept. 9 at Ogren Park in Missoula.

Those interested in showing Zombie Thoughts, or helping to support the Montana Repertory Theatre, can visit MontanaRepZombieThoughts.com or call the theater directly at 406-2436809.

A spokesperson for Pacific Health said the organization was proud to sponsor and help the Montana theater spread

“We’re still looking for folks who want to come on board and help this really amazing project,” Legg said.

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Missoula Chamber partners with MT Dept. of Labor For the past two years, the Missoula Area Chamber of Commerce has been focused on a few key initiatives for the Missoula business community. All of the Chamber’s initiatives focus on issues impacting the workforce. Our workforce initiatives include child care, pathways to careers and addiction.

One of those initiatives is reaching a key milestone.

Two years ago, the Chamber launched event called Pathways to Careers. We brought together high school guidance counselors and members of the business community to highlight career opportunities for today’s high school students that do not necessarily require a 4-year college degree.

KIM These are LATRIELLE opportunities Missoula Area that promise a good income Chamber of and, often, Commerce on-the-job Chief Executive training or paid Officer education.

It became apparent that there was a need to gather this information into one place so guidance counselors, teachers and parents could easily access it when helping students map out their future.

Working with the Montana Department of Labor, the Missoula Chamber of Commerce is preparing to launch a statewide website that will feature the many career opportunities for high school students and those looking to change careers. This Workforce Connections website has been over a year in the making and will connect employers with tomorrow’s workforce.

The Chamber is collaborating with employers across many industry sectors to ensure the website launches with as much information as possible about opportunities within our community.

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Bill Fritz, operations manager and senior superintendent with Jackson Contractor Group, Inc., talks to educators and counselors about jobs in the construction industry as part of a Pathways to Careers presentation.

Many of these career fields promise a good income for years to come and employers are eager to bring in new workers. We’re also working with the local Job Service office to spread the word to employers to submit their opportunities to Workforce Connections.

As the site rolls out, the Missoula Chamber will reach out to our Chamber colleagues around the state to encourage them to include businesses in their community in this effort. As the database of career opportunities builds, students from Missoula will be able to search for opportunities throughout Montana.

Likewise, students from outside of Missoula will be able to search out opportunities for careers in Missoula.

The Chamber is thankful for its many partners in the education community who have contributed to the success of both the Pathways to Careers events as well as the new Workforce Connections website. Their participation and feedback has allowed us to create a tool that we believe will be useful to students and

those who support them for years to come.

support each other and collaborate on issues impacting Missoula.

We also thank the many, many members of the business community who have participated in our events and who are embracing the Workforce Connections website. We’re excited to have a new tool in helping them find tomorrow’s workforce to fill the amazing opportunities they have to offer.

Our second new initiative is supporting the University of Montana and Missoula College. We’ll be partnering with UM to find ways the Missoula business community can better support our university. The success of the Missoula business community is closely tied to the success of the University of Montana. It has a big impact on our local economy and the Chamber believes we can find new ways to help attract students and boost enrollment.

The Missoula Chamber will continue to work on the workforce initiatives listed above. We’re currently analyzing data from our second child care survey. This survey will give us an updated view of the needs of our community and the impacts Covid-19 has had on Missoula’s child care offerings.

We have also added two additional initiatives we’ll be working on over the next year. The first is working to better support our local legislators during the 2021 Legislature. We’re currently meeting with all seated legislators as well as all candidates for offices from Missoula.

We’re looking for opportunities to

The Missoula Area Chamber of Commerce is excited about the work we’ve done on the new Workforce Connections website and the ongoing work with all of our initiatives. We’re grateful for the partners we have throughout the community who work with us every day to continue moving Missoula forward.

Kim Latrielle is the CEO of the Missoula Area Chamber of Commerce.

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