Bozeman Build #42

December 9th - 15th 2024

Happy Monday and welcome back to the Bozeman Build Report covering blue collar business news around Montana.

Today were jumping into Montana migrations, a proposed wildlife crossing near Sixmile, Yellowstone’s winter season is open as of Dec 15, Northwestern energy to own 10% of the 3,000 MW North Plains Connector, revisiting plans for an innovation campus in Missoula, DNRC proposing a precommercial thinning project near flathead, 4-H Calendars, Montana and Wyoming is fed up with the BLM, C- Montana infrastructure grade, Montana electric vehicles percentage at (0.7%), MT prevailing wage meeting, modular builds, I-Ho park, Christmas convoy, I-Ho park, Aurora ribbon cutting, Belgrade Christmas Convoy, combined labs, mild Christmas, and Eisenhower

Thanks for tuning in and enjoy,

Daniel

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When and what is the Bozeman Build? The BB is a 1x/week free email newsletter delivered Monday mornings focused on Montana trades. We are not a financial or building advisors.

Bozeman and Montana Trade Pulse

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Montana trade pulse

What happened to Montana after 2020? I’ve always been fascinated with Montana migration trends so here’s a 5 minute article covering where, and why people came here, how the real estate market reacted, Bozeman's growth spurt followed by vacancies, and where will it go from here?

www.blockbiome.com/blog/a-2020-2025-montana-migration-story

Dec 9, 2024 The Missoula Regional Connectivity Group (MRCG) submitted a proposal to the Montana Wildlife Transportation Partnership to improve wildlife crossings in the Sixmile area along a stretch of highway between Huson and Alberton. The Montana Department of Transportation recently contracted a feasibility study, which will examine the options over the next year. (KPAX)

Dec 10, 2024 Yellowstone National Park (YNP) announced Tuesday this year's winter season will begin on Sunday, Dec, 15, 2024. (NPS)

December 12, 2024 NorthWestern Energy announced Thursday it is joining a new high voltage transmission project that will help expand Montana’s grid and meet the state’s increasing energy demand. (Daily Montanan)

In a news release, the utility said it plans to own 10% of a 3,000 megawatt transmission line to be built from Bismarck, North Dakota, to Colstrip, and it signed a nonbinding memorandum of understanding with North Plains Connector.
Grid United and ALLETE are jointly developing North Plains Connector, and Avista, Portland General Electric and Puget Sound Energy also have ownership agreements with North Plains Connector.

North Plains Connector. (Provided by NorthWestern Energy)

December 12, 2024 Six years have passed since the University of Montana met with city and county leaders to discuss the makings of an innovation campus – a place to serve as a hub of research across a range of studies. The effort remains alive, according to project partners, and it now includes architectural renderings of what a “Missoula Innovation District” might look like next to Missoula College and the Montana Technology Enterprise Center (MonTEC) off Broadway. (Missoula Current)

December 13 2024 The Montana Department of Natural Resources and Conservation (DNRC) is proposing precommercial thinning (PCT) of state-owned forested land in Flathead, Lake and Lincoln counties, across the Kalispell, Stillwater, Swan and Libby DNRC Administrative Units. Projects would be implemented as early as Spring 2025 and continue through 2026. (DNRC)

December 13, 2024 Calendars featuring drawings by artist Don Greytak are available from the Montana 4-H Foundation as a fundraiser to support 4-H youth programs. (MT 4-H Foundation)

December 13 2024 Montana and Wyoming filed suit against the U.S. Bureau of Land Management on Thursday seeking to overturn the agency’s rule to end federal coal leasing in the Powder River Basin — the nation’s most prolific coal-producing region. Coal mines on the Wyoming side of the basin, which also extends into Montana, directly employ about 5,000 workers, according to the state. (Daily Montanan)

“Wyoming is now engaged in more than 50 lawsuits against Biden administration regulations that threaten the state’s fossil fuel industries, according to Gordon’s office.”

December 13, 2024 A report released Wednesday by the Montana Section of the American Society of Civil Engineers gave Montana’s infrastructure a “C-,” lower than the “C” grade it got on the same report in 2018, based primarily on a host of aging infrastructure across the large state and being underfunded to perform the upgrades needed on a quick timeline. (Daily Montanan)

December 11 2024 In 2023, 0.7% of cars on the road in Montana were electric or plug-in hybrid. As of November 2024, there were 163 charging stations available. In the last three years, the federal government has allocated $34.1 million in grants toward clean transportation, or about $30 per person. (Stacker)

The 2024 Report Card for Montana’s Infrastructure showed two categories of infrastructure – drinking water and schools – saw improvements from the 2018 report, though schools still received a “D” grade. Three other categories – bridges, energy, and solid waste – received downgrades. (Daily Montanan)

December 16, 2024 The Montana Department of Labor & Industry has released preliminary versions of the prevailing wage rates for 2025. These rates can be found on the Prevailing Wage webpage. At 10 AM on December 16th, the Department of Labor & Industry will hold a public hearing via remote conferencing to consider the amendment of ARM 24.17.127 pertaining to prevailing wage rates for public works projects. (MT DLI)

Whitefish Modular Builds

A Bozeman Build subscriber sent some project footage of a modular home being assembled near Whitefish, Montana last week. The units were designed in Colorado and constructed/transported from Utah. This project was shared buy Montana House Contractors of Whitefish, MT.

Modular builds in the Northern Rockies.

Whitefish isn’t the only place doing modular builds. This is a favorable construction method used in locations that have limited building season and trade talent pool. Modular also works great for affordable housing projects. Below we spotlight Powderlight, Riverview Place, and Alpine Extended Stay which are all prefab modular projects all located near here.

Powderlight - Big Sky https://www.modular.org/awards-powderlight/
Riverview Place - Big Sky https://www.guerdonmodularbuildings.com/our-work/riverview-place/
Summer 2024 Bozeman Build #19 - we wrote about the Extended Stay Modular Project in Alpine, Wyoming. Here’s a video capturing the overview of a modular hotel build manufactured by Autovol of Nampa, ID

Autovol Volumetric Modular did the extended stay modular project in Alpine however most of its completed projects were affordable housing developments located around California mostly the Bay Area. Info sourced from Autovol.com/projects

Please let me know what modular projects around Montana/Idaho/Wyoming we may be missing!

Bozeman trade pulse

Dec 6, 2024 Discovery Land Company has submitted permitting applications to the Routt County Planning Department with plans to develop a private ski resort with D-Line gondola along with hundreds of luxury homes. (Near Steamboat Springs, CO - NOT in MT!) (Steamboat Pilot)

Dec 12, 2024 Plans for the proposed “Guthrie” apartment building are again up for public notice this month (Bozeman Daily)

December 12, 2024 Patrik Callis, Montana State’s longest-tenured professor, retires after 56 years (MSU News)

Dec 11, 2024 The City of Bozeman is applying for grant funding to revitalize a small downtown park in honor of former Bozeman City Commissioner I-Ho Pomeroy. (KBZK)

Dec 12, 2024 Aurora Innovation, Inc. (NASDAQ: AUR), a leader in autonomous trucking technology, today announced the opening of its new 78,000 square-foot office and testing facility in Bozeman, Montana. Located on Montana State University’s Innovation Campus, the space builds upon the university’s 30-year history of producing industry-leading photonics engineers and innovations. (Business Wire)

Dec 12, 2024 An application has been submitted to the city proposing the demolition of a building at the corner of Willson and Babcock to make way for a 4-story mixed-use building. The existing building was last occupied by C&H Engineering and Surveying which recently merged with IMEG Corp. The building was built in 1975 and most recently sold in 2022. (Bozeman Real Estate Group)

2024 Montana Belgrade Christmas Convoy

This tradition started in 2019 and became a hit during COVID-19. Four years later, the convoy has grown to 100 trucks, each sporting lights you can see from space.

Ken Murphy of TMC Sand and Gravel helps coordinate the event and says it takes days to place the thousands of lights on the semis. (KBZK). Note the video below was published in 2020.

Mild December

Southwest Montana has had a super mild December, framing crews are taking full advantage racing to get things dried in before the tides change.

State of Montana Combined Labs update

View project docs on the MT department of Livestock’s website

Weather

Inspecting this 5-10 day temperature anomaly map, its projecting nice and warm weather leading into Christmas (by Montana Standards), Mele Kalikimaka!

Snowpack. The entire State of Oregon, Idaho Panhandle, Colorado Rockies are fairing above normal snowpack while areas around the Yellowstone ecosystem are lagging behind this season, screenshot recorded 12.14.2024 (SWCC Snotel). This weekends snow storms should give Wyoming and Utah mountains a boost.

History of the week

Dwight Eisenhower campaigning in Missoula, Montana, from the back of a train car, circa 1952. (Montana History Portal - Missoula and the Railroad: A History in Photos)

Montana History Portal -Missoula and the Railroad: A History in Photos

Have a great week,

Daniel

bozemanbuild.com & blockbiome.com

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