Scott Street Development

Historic photo of the White Pine Sash Mill

The Scott Street Development is a proposed new development located at the former White Pine Sash location on Scott Street in the Northside neighborhood of Missoula. The project consists of 9 acres total, with 3 acres dedicated for 70 permanently income-qualified home ownership community land trust homes and 6 acres dedicated for mixed-use (retail and 240 market rate apartments). In the current development environment, where supplies and labor have increased at shocking rates, trying to develop a project of this magnitude that will meet community objectives and price points will be challengingContinue reading

Historic photo of the White Pine Sash Mill

The Master Plan

The master developer for the site is Ravara LLC, a subsidiary of Goodworks Ventures, LLC. “Ravara” is derived from the Swedish word ‘Råvara,’ meaning “raw material.” Our vision is to take the raw material of the currently undeveloped 9 acres of the former White Pine Sash site and turn it into quality housing and community amenities that will benefit the northside neighborhood.

The main purpose of the Master Plan is to ensure that the layout of the road infrastructure and placement of buildings and parking results in an attractive and livable neighborhood. It has two main components:

A “Land Use Plan” that shows where homes, apartments, the school, primary roads, etc. will be located. This plan is currently being developed and will be the topic of discussion at our July 12, 2021 Open House at Burns Street Bistro. Later on this summer, we will have additional community discussion on “Design Standards” that set requirements for builders to ensure high-quality apartments, homes, other buildings, roads, and amenities.
A Conceptual Master Plan that generally shows the type, size, location, and spatial relationships of interior spaces, including essential amenities. Additional considerations will include support facilities, circulation throughout, and connections to the site.

The Need

Missoula has critical housing needs. Over the last several years and in particular over the last year in response to COVID, Missoula has seen remarkable growth in its population. Home prices have steadily increased in recent years, outpacing wage growth and causing many Missoulians to find it challenging to afford safe and healthy homes. There is little inventory for sale and homes, when offered for sale are often bid up by out of state buyers with cash, making an affordable home out of reach for most Missoulians. That, in turn has driven up the costs of rentals and vacancies are at an all-time low. Rents have increased by 12-50% over the last 24 months, and many tenants have simply been informed by their landlords that the properties they have lived in for years are no longer available.

To learn more about Missoula's housing need, please download the Affordable Housing Fact Sheet.

Known Community Priorities

In 2000, the Missoula City Council adopted its 2000 Joint Northside/Westside Neighborhood Plan, which had a limited update in 2006. As part of the Northside West Side plan, respondents to the 2006 survey identified the three greatest housing needs in the neighborhood as:

improvement of substandard housing;
affordable homebuyer opportunities; and
affordable rentals.

Thirty-nine percent thought there was a need for more housing for people with low and moderate incomes and 49% identified a need for more housing for the elderly. However, 40% of the respondents to the 2006 survey expressed the opinion that the neighborhood had too much multi-family housing.

To learn more about the results of the 2006 survey, please visit this link.

We understand that in 2021, community priorities may have changed from those outlined in the 2006 Plan. Our ambition over the next few weeks is to identify areas where neighborhood priorities and desires have shifted and to determine what neighborhood amenities the northside is the most passionate about that could be reasonably included in this development.