1/20/2025“Great Falls This Week” is reported and written by Matt Hudson. Send your news and tips to [email protected] resides at the Holiday VillageThere’s new activity in the usually quiet corridors of the Holiday Village Mall. In recent weeks, Mark Davis and volunteers have been setting up the new location for the Foot of the Cross Christian bookstore.Though empty storefronts still line the hallways, Davis is bullish on the mall location. They’re next door to longtime local business Little Athens, and an Asian cuisine business is coming in across the way. Davis hopes to hold a soft opening by Feb. 14, the anniversary of when the business first opened in its previous location.“I’ve always said that this mall would be absolutely golden if it was willing to work a little bit more with people that wanted to move in here,” he said.Credit: Matt Hudson / MTFPDavis is part of a small group of hopefuls who want to see Holiday Village return as a bustling retail center. Though it still has significant vacancies, some new openings and a recent winter craft show have boosted interest in the massive retail space that takes up 12 square blocks along the city’s busiest road.“I believe that our mall can be viable again,” said Jayson Olthoff, an entrepreneur and IT professional who has also taken up mall boosterism. He wrote a Facebook post on Jan. 7 suggesting that the mall should be reimagined as a local business hub and entertainment space. With the help of his committed social media presence (he’s an active admin of the popular What’s Happening in Great Falls Facebook page) and with contacts at a regular business event he organizes, Olthoff said he’s working to funnel interested businesses to the building owner’s leasing agent.“The reason I am looking at it or following along is because I think there’s some value with what we have in the mall,” Olthoff said. “I believe in local.”Holiday Village first opened in 1960, billed then as Montana’s largest shopping center. The current building owner and lessor, Illinois-based GK Development, took over in 2006. Businesses have come and gone in the time since, but mostly the latter. Recently, two big box stores on the mall’s eastern flank closed up shop. And GK is locked in a lawsuit with the last box store in the row, Ross Dress For Less, that soured to the point that GK had been returning the monthly rent checks Ross sent.GK did not return requests for comment.Nationally, shopping center performance is mixed. Though vacancy rates across the country remain low, new construction is slow and shopping centers in the western United States had fewer rented square feet at the end of 2024 than at the start.GK reduced its footprint at the mall in recent years. The properties containing Scheels, Harbor Freight, Hobby Lobby and Petsmart are now under new ownership. The parcel that includes Harbor Freight and two other large tenants is currently listed for sale at nearly $12 million.While petitioning the city in 2018 to subdivide the mall property to sell the parcels, GK claimed that it could reduce its holdings and free up funds for upgrades to the interior of the building. In GK’s contiguous portion of the mall, there appear to be more storefront vacancies than occupied spaces, and the escalator doesn’t run.GK retained the main indoor segment of the mall, the eastern leg, and the roadside lot that will soon be home to a Texas Roadhouse restaurant. In the mall’s administration office, property manager Beth Morrow said people are starting to talk more about the mall. Some of the conversations can be frustrating — she responded to multiple comments about high rents and difficulty leasing in Olthoff’s post. She said that many of those commenters hadn’t contacted her about potential leasing. But on the ground, she said there’s growing interest. Morrow said she leads around 10 site showings each week for prospective tenants.“Since the craft show, we’ve seen an uptick in traffic,” she said.The Montana Solstice Arts and Craft Show in December brought some buzz back to Holiday Village. It gave Davis a sense of anticipation to see all the customers as he looked ahead to opening the bookstore.“They filled not only that entire center hallway but almost every one of the empty spaces that were available,” he said.Davis wants to see those kinds of events more often to draw potential shoppers. He’s also supportive of Morrow’s work. Having worked in retail for 49 years, he said there’s renewed energy to get tenants in the building. He declined to offer specifics on the lease but said that they were able to negotiate a workable rent with GK. The bookstore is run by a nonprofit organization and is staffed by volunteers.With some more pop-up events and continued momentum with leasing, Davis feels the mall will be back on track.“I just hope that Chicago management listens to that and understands that what we’ve got here is just a diamond in the rough,” he said. “It used to be a diamond. Now it’s just in the rough.”By The NumbersThe amount of startup money that a committee hopes to raise by July 1 to be on track for the start of a boys’ high school baseball program. Lance Boyd, executive director for student achievement for Great Falls Public Schools, gave a progress update at the Jan. 13 board of trustees meeting. He laid out a fundraising schedule for costs through the first two years of the baseball program, which is planned for a spring 2026 launch. The committee is working on private fundraising and site selection for practice and games.“We’re going to have money in the bank before we start this endeavor,” Boyd said at the meeting. “We’re not going to have pledges or promises.”5 Things to Know in Great FallsThe Great Falls Animal Shelter will have disruptions to its normal operations during a renovation project in the coming months. It begins with a special January adoption event with reduced fees to reduce the number of animals on site. Public intake of stray animals will temporarily cease, starting Jan. 20, and a full closure is expected in March. More information can be found here.The city is hosting multiple community workshops to get input on the forthcoming growth policy. City staff members are interested in hearing about future growth priorities among residents. Those events are Monday, Jan. 27, 5:30 p.m. at the Civic Center Gibson Room; Jan. 28, noon at the Montana ExpoPark Paddock Club; Jan. 28, 5:30 p.m. at Meadowlark Elementary School library; Jan. 29, 5:30 p.m. at East Middle School cafeteria; and Jan. 30, noon at Great Falls College MSU room B139.The Great Falls Public Schools Board of Trustees approved plans for its spring election, which will take place May 6 via mail ballots. Three trustee terms held by Gordon Johnson, Mark Finnicum and Paige Turoski, are up this year. Candidate applications must be filed with the school district by March 27.Great Falls Rising will host an event to discuss state-level legislation that impacts public education funding. Speakers include Great Falls Public Schools Trustee Bill Bronson, GFPS Director of Business Operations Brian Patrick, Power Public Schools Superintendent Nichole Pieper and Jamie Wyatt Marshall, chair of Kids Education YES. The event is Wednesday, Jan. 22, at 6 p.m. at the Darkhorse Hall in the basement of the Celtic Cowboy.The city’s contract with golf course management company CourseCo is up for renewal and will be discussed at the city commission meeting on Tuesday, Jan. 21. City staff have expressed satisfaction with the company’s work, including efforts to reduce annual deficits in the golf course budget. The proposed new contract would last five years with the option for a five-year renewal at the end of the term. The city will pay $134,000 to CourseCo for management and accounting, and the fees will increase according to inflation in subsequent years, according to the draft agreement. Since 2018, CourseCo has managed Anaconda Hills and Eagle Falls golf courses on behalf of the city.3 Questions ForThe newspaper of record for central Montana communities along the Missouri River, The Cascade Courier, has a new owner: 24-year-old Jeb Boettger. He takes over from previous owners Toni and Ray Castellanos, and The Courier announced the change on Jan. 9.Like many who work in community news, Boettger has been working at The Courier as a designer, reporter, photographer and editor. In the 2024 Better Newspaper Contest from the Montana Newspaper Association, Boettger’s work won first-place awards in both the best front page and best layout and design categories.Montana Free Press reached out to Boettger to discuss the transition and what a printed community newspaper means to a Gen Z owner.Credit: Courtesy of Jeb BoettgerTell us a bit about yourself and how you came to work at The Courier.I’ve loved drawing since I was young and always knew I wanted to be a graphic designer. My family has been friends with former owners Toni and Ray Castellanos for a long time, so Toni knew about my aspirations. When she bought the newspaper several years ago, she called and asked if I’d like to work on laying out the paper. I joined the team in late 2019, and working here has enriched my life in countless ways. The job helped me get into and through college, introduced me to my girlfriend and kept me connected to my community in a meaningful way.What led to your decision to own and operate the paper?Toni and I have been discussing the possibility of me taking over the paper for quite a while. My experience here has opened doors for me and deepened my love for the work. Given our families’ long-standing friendship, Toni and Ray wanted to keep the Courier “in the family,” so there’s been a shared understanding for some time that I would eventually take on ownership. When the time came, it felt like a natural next step.Given the shifts in news consumption, particularly among your age group, how do you view the role of a local newspaper?I see the local newspaper as the community’s voice and its record keeper. While many people in my generation get their news from platforms like Facebook or TikTok, a printed weekly publication serves a different purpose. We can’t compete with the speed of breaking news, but we offer something just as important: a reliable, nonpartisan record of Cascade’s story. We’re here to amplify local voices, document the town’s progress and preserve its history for future generations.The post Can Holiday Village Mall bounce back? appeared first on Montana Free Press.