MISSOULA — The Johnson Street shelter closed roughly six months ago, and the city is currently in the process of deconstructing the property with plans to sell it in the future for redevelopment.
"It's a great location,” said Ellen Buchanan, director of the Missoula Redevelopment Agency.
The City of Missoula owns the land where the Johnson Street Shelter used to sit near the MRL Rail Link Park.
And for them, deconstructing the property was the only option due to city policies.
“It's a program that we started, I'm thinking, probably 10 years ago, to divert construction materials away from the landfill and keep them in use in the community,” Buchanan said.
MTN spoke with several residents and businesses in the area who didn't want to be on camera — but they said that since the shelter is closed, there's been fewer disturbances and less trash and that they're excited to see what comes in the future.
Laci Rathbun, an employee at Donation Warehouse, says the closure hasn’t brought any noticeable difference.
"Honestly, not a lot has changed for us since the shelter is closed. We had a really great working relationship with the HOT team and with the staff of the Poverello Center," Laci Rathbun said. "And so they were always really receptive and kind of helpful when they could be if we did have any issues arise."
Rathbun said that while the reuse store wasn't necessarily impacted when the shelter was in use, they are ready for what's next in the neighborhood.
“Now there's lots of other, just different traffic on the street with construction vehicles and stuff. Hopefully prepping it for its next life,” Rathbun said.
As the buildings are removed board by board, the location's future is still in the deconstruction phase.
But that doesn’t mean big things aren’t potentially coming.
"We did an RFP and selected a design team to work with the neighborhood and work with us to see what the neighborhood wanted,” Rathbun said.
So as several buildings come down, the Missoula Redevelopment Agency is looking at what comes next.
Plans are in the works for redeveloping the area, with sketches and renderings of what the area could look like already done.
Then comes the next step.
"We hope to be able to attract a developer, a development group, maybe multiple developers. I mean, eight acres is sometimes a challenge for one developer, but that would be ideal if we had a master developer,” Buchanan said.
