This hotel looks huge in that space. It dwarfs the Golden Spur.



FLICKR PHOTO: Sleep Inn & Suites Construction, Miles City

My only suggestion is that the Golden Spur not invest in solar panels anytime in the near future.

If I owned the Spur, I would put a sign on my roof.

Not Joking, It would be money well spent.

That is HUGE! Should be able to get a room for Bucking Horse now!

Umm. I've bee told that 75% of that building is leased out for the first year to Haliburton. They might give you a discount on the Cheney-Palin suite though Kacey.

[This message has been edited by Richard Bonine, Jr. (1/31/2012)]

bump

That thing is huge!! An example of what is to come for MC.

Umm. I've bee told that 75% of that building is leased out for the first year to Haliburton. They might give you a discount on the Cheney-Palin suite though Kacey.

I have been told this as well, but I've also been told that that was a rumor and not true. Either way, I'm pretty impressed with the rate that they are getting the thing built. I've also heard that there are more hotels in the works on Haynes, but I'm pretty much going to stop believing anything about the impending oil boom that isn't in a newspaper because people are going hog-wild with rumors and speculation around Miles City.

The address seems unusual to me - right across from Gallagher's? Is there enough real estate?

It's where the Buckboard Motel used to be. The address I put on the photo -- ~1250 South Haynes Ave. -- came from the Sleep Inn website which said "near 1250 South Haynes Ave."

Wow, I didn't know/register that the BB had gone!

It is a tight fit on that site. They have to put their garbage on the lot behind the hotel proper. No, according to the official statement of the hotel owners, they have NOT leased anything to anybody. The article in the newspaper that was on the front page of the Star explained it.

I'm pretty impressed with the rate that they are getting the thing built.

It has been very impressive!

Amorette wrote:

No, according to the official statement of the hotel owners, they have NOT leased anything to anybody.

Key phrase = "official statement"

I'd bet dollars to doughnuts that Richard is right. Surprised it would only be 75% of the rooms, though.

Once the boom is over, the rack rate on a hotel room in Williston will be about $15 per night.

Thanks Richard! But I don't need a room when in Miles City! I just remember everyone posting last year about looking for a room..a week or two before Bucking Horse.

Why build a nice hotel to rent to oil workers? You would have to completely remodel it when they moved out. Sorry, but single young men are not known for their tidy habits. They have also announced when they plan to start taking reservations. Why take bookings if the hotel is rented out?

Rumors are always more interesting than reality. In this case, I believe the official announcement. The guy who said it lives here in town, for one thing. It didn't come from "corporate."

Amorette:

I can only tell you what's going on in NW North Dakota.

As soon as a new hotel is constructed, the owners contract with an oil services company for most/all of the rooms.

If Halliburton really wanted to rent the rooms in this hotel I doubt the owners would object.

This story about the new Motel 6 in Williston has probably added some fuel to the rumor fire:

WDAY Fargo: New Motel Opens in Williston, North Dakota

"Ray Obendorf, a partner in the venture with his son Greg Obendorf, said the family farms in Idaho and is also in oil leases.

He said construction started about six months ago and Halliburton has wanted to rent out the entire motel. The family says it will probably rent some of it locally and some of it to the company."

I tried to find the link the article that was in the Miles City Star about two weeks ago regarding this hotel, but apparently its not available on the Star's website anymore, if it ever was.

The jist of that article said that they are not taking any reservations for dates prior to July 1st. (So it will NOT be available for Bucking Horse Sale.) I believe it said they were hoping to be putting the finishing touches on sometime in June. Also, I believe an official with that hotel chain said that the rumors going around about an oil company booking the place for a year were NOT true.

Just sayin'....

"Why build a nice hotel to rent to oil workers? You would have to completely remodel it when they moved out. Sorry, but single young men are not known for their tidy habits. They have also announced when they plan to start taking reservations. Why take bookings if the hotel is rented out?

Rumors are always more interesting than reality. In this case, I believe the official announcement. The guy who said it lives here in town, for one thing. It didn't come from "corporate.""

1. This is the old-school attitude that will sink any increased economic activity. People living in motels, man-camps, etc are part of the energy extraction business.

2. I was told that 75% of Sleep Inn was rented out by a local business person. Someone in county government, and someone at the chamber of commerce both inferred that this was in fact the case in personal communications.

3. I recognize that until any "party-line conversation"(think Mr. Hunnes) it is printed in the local paper by our own version of Rona Barrett, it isn't "official".

[This message has been edited by Richard Bonine, Jr. (2/1/2012)]

I have heard the rumor from the Econ Dev. people, the Chamber people, and the man on the street. The guy in Miles City who works for Town Pump and is supervising the build says no. Elaine asked him the question flat out and he laughed and said he had heard it himself. Still didn't make it true. Oddly enough, I believe him. So sue me.

I've also heard Costco is coming tomorrow, along with the Tongue River Railroad, a Target Store and an Applebee's. I tend to believe sources from the horse's mouth rather than the grapevine, as tasty as those grapes may be.

Hey Ricardo:

If Amorette is Rona Barrett, does that make you Tom Snyder???

So really, all this arguing about renting/not renting rooms to oil workers centers around some basic questions.....

How many rooms will this hotel have?

How short is the motel industry on rooms in the MC area?

Can the current MC economy support keeping enough of all of those rooms filled to keep the hotel operating in the black?

I think the probable answers to those questions will direct our attention to the conclusion that the owners/builders are expecting some kind of growth/support/boost from the oil industry to at least keep the thing running; and that that growth will develop MC into a large enough city to keep the rooms kinda full on a regular basis. BHS isn't supporting that thing all on it's own!

You know, looking at it reminds me of the Howard Johnson built on the 27th street exit in Billings. That hotel couldn't stay open, now it's a state run correctional facility.

It's supposed to have 90 rooms and suites with convention space to accomodate groups up to 175. When the project was first announced it was stated that the hotel was specifically designed with more convention space than room space to allow overflow to neighboring hotels.

"You know, looking at it reminds me of the Howard Johnson built on the 27th street exit in Billings."

I think that hotel was partly cursed by its location.

It's not a real "convention center" but it does have some larger meeting rooms. Parking will be tight, though.

Can Long John Silver's be far behind?

Hey Ricardo:

If Amorette is Rona Barrett, does that make you Tom Snyder???

More like Tom Bodett.... "I'll live the light on for you".

More like Tom Bodett.... "I'll live the light on for you".

Richard,

It is "We'll leave the light on for you."

Amorette wrote:

Sorry, but single young men are not known for their tidy habits.

No offense Amorette, but sometimes you come across as a female version of a misogynist (if there is such a thing).

Just a sec, goint to the thesaurus.

Misandrist. That's the word.

[This message has been edited by Bob L. (2/2/2012)]

I could have told you that Bob... the word that is - I have no opinion regarding Amorette.

Look at the big brain on Bridgier!

Too bad most of the construction is being done by out of town contractors, and very little of the materials purchased locally.......

Not only that, but I don't think Miles City leaders even recognize the bargaining power we have when it comes to business being established in our community. I need to talk to someone- I have very good ideas.

Can I suggest the mental health center?

I don't think Miles City leaders even recognize the bargaining power we have when it comes to business being established in our community.

So you now consider yourself a part of government? The change in tense where you project yourself in some roll you do not have is confusing. The only bargaining power government would have is in either some sort of licensing or in municipal bonding to attract certain types of business. Not sure what you are even talking about.

For example. Any big enough business that breaks ground in Miles City could be required to donate a sum of money to Miles City for Enhancement of Recreation here. Clauses could be written in or ordinances could be made. Any business with a large enough amount of land could also be required to donate 10% of the land the purchase to establish walking trails.

Seems like I'm always reading about cities giving tax breaks to businesses, rather than asking for contributions.

Im talking about corporations, man.

For example. Any big enough business that breaks ground in Miles City could be required to donate a sum of money to Miles City for Enhancement of Recreation here. Clauses could be written in or ordinances could be made. Any business with a large enough amount of land could also be required to donate 10% of the land the purchase to establish walking trails.

Any business that encountered those kind of requirements would probably go somewhere else. Contributions to recreational enhancements come after a business is profitable, not before.

Life in Miles City does not revolve around your narrowly defined idea of recreation. You best learn to enjoy the many things we have here or keep your misery to yourself. Miles City is actually one of the most walkable towns in the State of Montana. With miles of sidewalk why would we need in-town trails? And I'd much rather go out to Strawberry Hill or Pumpkin Creek for walking trails.

[This message has been edited by Richard Bonine, Jr. (2/18/2012)]

I just spoke with a man last night that used to be County Commissioner for a small town in Minnesota that implemented such regulations on incoming Corporations to the town. He said it worked great. Corporate Franchises can certainly afford it, and are probably used to such things- as the small Minnesota town the man told me about is far the the only communities in America that have such requirements.

It was just an idea, Richard. Thought it might hold some weight with others. I think its a great idea and the walking trails is one of many ideas that could come from this general idea.

Are you IN Miles City, AshleyDawn? You can currently walk from south of the Broadus interchange to the bridge crossing the Tongue on Main and never leave a sidewalk unless you're crossing the street. Plus you can do it at night and be as well lit as anywhere in the state.

Ashley's idea is basically impact fee's. They are common here in Bozeman, and virtually every larger city in the state.
When Kohl's decided they were building in Bozeman, they were required to pay for improvements to the infrastructure (roads, curbing, sidewalks and such) within I think 300 yards of their site. They complied happily. Happens everyday here, and I can't recall any large business that put up much of a fight. They all pay an attorney to argue with the city for few weeks, and then they cave and do it. It's a cost of doing business in many cities these days.
Our city commission passed an ordinance a few years ago that required new developement to build 10% of their project to "affordable living" conditions. So if a developer wanted to build a 40 unit condo complex, at least 4 of those units had to be "affordable". When the housing market collapsed, they pulled it from the books, but it only takes a majority vote of the commission to re-instate it. And the vast majority of new projects are required to provide a certain percentage of "green space" within their project. Obviously Bozeman and Miles City need to be operated using different economic standards, but none of these ideas are all that half baked. It takes money to make money, and nobody knows that better than large business looking to expand. Here in Bozeman, the commission shoots for the stars, and settles for the moon. Which is exactly what they expected in the first place.
In my opinion, it's a good idea for new business to contribute to the infrastructure they WILL be impacting. It shows the community that they want to be good corporate neighbors. Maybe not to the level expected here in Bozeman, but some contribution is just good business, no matter where you live.

None of which would be necessary if MT would eliminate their antiquated taxation system and adopt a sales tax.

In Kalispell they had to repeal the impact fee because they kept getting caught exempting the out of state developers. No fair. Our community is forever outraged over some of what was going on in the way of growth and progress. In effect they killed Mom and Pop and openly welcomed the Carpetbaggers. I see the same thing happening in your town, but doubt it could ever get out of hand there. As long as it's kept so close to the interstate there won't be THAT much impact, will there?

Thank you, Matthew! In addition to what you said, after I wrote my post throwing that out for people to think about, I was gracefully given some great info of this very idea being executed right now very close to us, and from a business with excellent financial investors (one being Haliburton) as well as others that would surely ring a bell to many in our community that have already associated with them. The stuff being done is AWESOME and with all of the upcoming changes we are expecting from the impacts of the Balkin activity, what better time than now to educate ourselves as a community to have this boom work to our advantage! I have been told the teams financial prospectus is very good, and so a boom and bust is not likely for it. Im sure Miles City has already made it to their list of possible locations for these ideas to come to life, as they have helped make many communities so close to us happen for them. Communities just like us all around the board.
Who can I contact to share this great info? Im convinced that it will certainly prove to make a compelling case as one way we could possibly get some serious financial help for all of these big dreams we have for Miles City, that if the notion of them being made possible were real- everyone would be on board!

Im talking about corporations, man.

Oh, that makes it OK! Taking money from a CORPORATION makes it just fine.

It doesn't matter what size of business you're taking money from. If you make their cost of doing business higher in this fashion, they will (1) raise prices to compensate for the cost, and/or (2) decide to locate somewhere else.

Kalispell was mentioned above. I haven't been there in a couple of years but the "resort" areas of Montana are notoriously high priced. Why do you suppose that is?

Ashley, It's Bakken not Balkin.

Thanks, bh.
Forsyrh Mike. You should look into Corporations and how they work financially. Especially in towns like Miles City. One new Corporation, like I don't know- Wal Mart for example, can completely destroy the local economy. Im sure you shop at Wal Mart all the time, right? They offer the best prices anywhere-guaranteed. They match ANY price at ANY business within 150 miles of their store on ANYTHING just to ensure you shop with them. They don't even require proof of the price you say is advertised as a better deal. That's pretty confident, isn't it?
Wal Mart controls 5% of the entire economy in America. Just think about it. Think about all of the hometown businesses that suffer and lose business that they could never, ever, in their wildest dreams EVER compete with, because of that. Businesses with owners that live right there in the town they own that store in. All of the money spent in their locally owned store stays right there in that town, granted they don't go take their money and spend it all at Wal Mart, too.
The money we spend at Wal Mart doesn't stay here. It goes into some bank way way way on the other side of the Country, and helps those people. Do you think the people in that place probably need that help? Their ancestors living in another procreating galaxy would never need help, nor would the community they dared to exist in. Is this making sense to you?
Its not only ok to take our rightful money back from Corporations that hurt our communities and the people that live in them, its necessary in order to make up for the harm they cause by leaving many to think they have no choice but to buy from them because they simply cannot afford to do anything else. Meanwhile, their neighbor and Mom and Pop grocer burys themselves trying to just survive, too.
Educate yourself. And then go shopping at IGA in Forsyth and truly thank God for the luxury of buying local and paying high prices to be able to. Many communities of people couldn't do that if they wanted to, thanks to Wal Mart.
Although this is the most extreme example I could ever use for how Corporate Franchise can hurt a community, it isn't the only one. For that matter, depending on any hypothetical 'Impact Fee' that would ever be required of such Corporation, long term it would liekly never even compare to the local business lost because of said 'Impact' their whole existence caused to the community.
In 10 years every community with a beating heart will hopefully have an infrastructure organized enough to be able to implement some form of this into their community if we are all ever to stand a chance to survive the Corporate Big Dogs.
If they gotta come, I say we damn well better try and pull out all the stops we can. Especially being the already scary situation we are in as a community, grasping at straws in attempt to stay afloat.
The Olive Hotel? Couple more of these bad boys and she's a gonner.
After all, you think the people staying in these hotels give two craps about the historical significane they hold in our Community?
Too many people that think just like you do are why every year more local businesses in Miles City close their doors instead of open theirs or keep theirs open. Too many people that think like you and that don't care to think at all.
UGHHHH I'm done.

[This message has been edited by AshleyDawn (2/22/2012)]

[This message has been edited by AshleyDawn (2/22/2012)]

One more thing or it's just gonna bug me. In the last few years, have you ever come across anyone using the term 'corporate bailout'?
Just curious.


And for anyone else that is going to come on here and crucify me about all of the different types of Corporations, I already know. You know the one's I am talking about. I'm not saying we should take Kelly Reid or any other independent owners and operators of Corporate Franchises and beat money out of them like they're thieves. The proportion of any impact fees would ideally be in direct proportion to the impact their existence would have on our local economy, and any existing establishment most likely safe by way of a Grandfather Clause. Locally owned, Independently operated franchises would be exempt from such fee, willing they wearn't killing or trying to kill everyone else off. All of the current owners of hotels in Miles City, even the franchise locations, are local individuals, to the best of my knowledge. All except for this one being built right now, whose owner does live in Montana, but not here. They also happen to own every Town Pump in the State.

Train Depot? INDOOR pool? Water mains? We can make these things possible for our town. We can use what will shortly, if not already, be making us look like a very considerable location for certain interest groups to invest in, and use these things to work for US. No more laying down and just letting things 'happen' to us, and trying to figure out how to deal with how those things will affect us. Lets talk instead about how to use these inevitable changes to benefit us and allow us overall community opportunity that without these changes we may never have been able to accomplish.

The Downtown Business Group that I have mentioned before is a much smaller scale version of businesses making initial investment into an effort that carries an overall goal that effectively improves their own business over time, as well as the neighbor businessesthat they know and love. Gotta spend a little money to make a little money. Paying to be involved in a group that you also have to volunteer for and work off the wall hours for on occasion may not seem too appealing, but those new benches and landscaping, local business slogan and overall attitude towards the customers you would be working for and to attract, sure does help when people are trying to decide where they want to shop. You can't just stick your hand out to those superior (unless they are Wal Mart), you gotta work for what you want to see in your community, starting with yourself.

Nucking futs

Is Ashley Dawn aware that the Miles City electorate voted in Butch Grenz for mayor in November?

Just curious.

Yes I am, but im not sure what you're trying to say. Im missing it.

The same thing occurred to me. Go tell him your great ideas, sweatermeat.

She should also include the county commissioners in the discussion as they are huge proponents of zoning and growth management laws and imposing impact fees on developers.

Never mind.

[This message has been edited by Richard Bonine, Jr. (2/22/2012)]

Oh im sure somebody will think of something before I would need to do something like that...posting on here is just as good as talking to them myself, if you ask me. Who knows, they could already intend to do something like this for Miles City, or have already talked about it and decided not to for reasons I have no clue of.
Im just talking about ideas, people. Im just using this site for exactly what it was created for. Don't get all judgmental and irritated because its messing up your 'vibe'. Some of you guys are really something! You either have all the answers or you know nothing, but usually never have the only thing that really counts- minds of your own.


'Ive done more harm by the falseness of trying to please than the honesty of trying to hurt.'-Jessamyn West

'I have a simple philosophy. Fill what's empty. Empty what's full. And scratch where it itches.'-Alice Roosevelt Longworth

There were several construction companies from milescity that helped build this place including myself

Too bad most of the construction is being done by out of town contractors, and very little of the materials purchased locally.......

Old Post I know, but in defense of the out of town contractors. My fathers company, Wagoner Roofing, roofed the Motel 6 when it was built here in the early 80's I believe. I helped on that job. Motel 6 had General contractors bid on the job and if they got the job then the general hired the crews they wanted. With 1 exception... roofers. They had been taking 3 weeks to a month and a half roofing these buildings with the need for follow ups to fix leaks. After our performance here in Miles City, Motel 6 told the general contractors bidding to get a bid from us, then to hire us if they got the job. We did something like 88 of these Motel 6 new construction all over the United States in 10 years. We could roll in on a job and be done in 8 to 12 days depending on weather. Best one was 8 days in and out.

While we were on the job we found the same crews doing the construction, concrete, plumbing, electrical, sheetrock .... Depending on the General.

The crews knew everything about the buildings before they even got to the site. They had experienced it over and over.

I have rolled in on a job where the second story was up on Builing 1 and had to clean up after carpenters before being able to start and before we could dry the building in see the Building 2 2nd story go up. They were able to stay ahead of us most of the time. No work could get done until it was dried in. As soon as we dried one in all crews went to work below us.

So by having crews follow the motel chain it saved both time and money.

I know we would like to have local crews work on everything being done in town, but it is not always cost effective.

On every job I was on the general always hired extra help. On many of our jobs we hired 1 or 2 people.

It was hard to find help that would keep up to the pace that my brother Fred "Buddy" Wagoner would put us through. We worked daylight till dark 7 days a week holiday or not. One of the jobs we started just before Christmas and we worked on Christmas Day...I think that was Riviera Beach Florida, When other crews came back after a few days off they found us loading up to go home.