Bank Street Parking Structure Dedicated in Missoula

The Missoula Redevelopment Agency (MRA) and the Missoula Parking Commission (MPC) dedication and ribbon cutting for the Bank Street Parking Structure and Pocket Park took place Friday.

The Bank Street Pocket Park features creative use of space created by the vacation of Bank Street. "Bank Street was little more than a paved alley," said MRA Director Geoff Badenoch, who served as project manager. "It was a challenge to create a beautiful public space out of the street, but our design team did an absolutely superb job of creating a place that is both welcoming and attractive."

Project architect Dennis Greeno said that designers tried to create a place that was both urban and pleasant. "We tried to keep in mind the history, the geology and the wildlife of the area as we designed layout and landscaping. We had some fun with that and placed footprints of Western Montana animals throughout the park. People will enjoy finding them all and trying to identify them."

During construction, excavators uncovered a granite block that was used in the 1890 construction of the First National Bank of Montana, precursor to First Interstate Bank.
"When I saw that block during a construction meeting on the site, I just knew we had to incorporate it into the park," Badenoch said. The granite block now sits imbedded in a planter wall and will soon have a small plaque identifying its significance.

A central element of the pocket park is a fountain featuring a compass rose etched into an eight-foot diameter granite disk. Water flows like a spring out of a hole in the disk and runs off into a basin filled with local river rocks. On the disk are letters and numbers identifying the exact latitude and longitude of Missoula, Montana. Suspended above the disk is a bronze piece depicting the flow of the Clark Fork River though Missoula.

"The combination of the sound and image of falling water is both interesting and soothing," Greeno observed. "It is a sound that will reduce the presence of traffic noise on Higgins Avenue and make the park a pleasant place to be."
First Interstate Bank, in addition to donating the land for the parking structure, also donated a new flagpole and flag to the park.

"This project was underway when the terrorist attacks in New York and Washington D.C. occurred. The Bank wanted to do something to reaffirm the community’s sense of patriotism and to acknowledge the heroism and sacrifice and deep personal losses that were experienced that day," said Wendy Susott, First Interstate Bank senior vice president, who represented the Bank during planning and construction.
The project was designed by OZ Architects and constructed by Quality Construction of Missoula. The park will be managed and maintained through a joint agreement between First Interstate Bank, the Parking Commission and the Millennium Building Partners.

The project was designed by Stan Zimet, Mike Gilbert
and Dennis Greeno, all of OZ Architects. Dennis was the project architect
and it was he who took the ideas and transformed them into something that
could be built.

Another "heavy hitter" in design was James Poole of
Wonderland, Inc. a landscape architect who incidentally is the designer of
the park-in-progress above Boone and Crockett. James assisted in the
formulation of the basic conceptual designs.

The contractor was Quality
Construction. That firm also built the Millennium Building and the parking
deck. Quality was represented by Mark Kobos, President, and Mark Tabert, Project Manager.

From First Interstate Bank, Wendy Susott, senior Vice President, attended
all the meetings and kept things calm on their side of the equation.

Anne
Guest, of course, from the Parking Commission, brought ideas and support to
the whole effort, as well.

In addition to the beauty a project like this brings to the community, it was most notable that the MRA, the Parking Commission, First
Interstate Bank and the Millennium partners accomplished this project
without any acrimony whatsoever. There were so many opportunities for folks
to lose faith and patience and yet, that never happened.

What a great bunch
of Missoulians!

The project was undertaken as a joint venture between the Parking Commission and the MRA on property donated to the City of Missoula by First Interstate Bank. The Bank Street Parking Structure will have 151 short- and long-term parking spaces, as well as indoor parking for bicycles. The structure was built on property that had been used as leased parking for several decades.

"When thinking about where to park cars in the Downtown, one of the key points we keep in mind is how to do it without consuming more of Downtown’s valuable land area. That means building layers of parking whenever we can," said Anne Guest, Missoula Parking Commission Director.

For further information, please call Geoff Badenoch at 523-4607.