It's been more than two years since ground was broken on a 220-unit complex on the property that was owned by the Elks Lodge in Billings.
While the project could help with Billings housing shortage, many neighbors expressed their concerns.
See neighbors' response to halting of project:
According to an architect involved in the project, construction never started because rent revenue would not have paid for the cost to build.
The original plan was to build townhouses on Lewis Avenue between Ninth Street West and 10th Street West, along with a big apartment complex closer to Yellowstone Avenue.
In May of 2023, Thrive Development out of Utah talked about its excitement for the project.
But at that time neighbors were not as excited and expressed concerns for safety.
On Friday, some of the neighbors said that they knew long ago that nothing was going to be happening on this piece of property.
“There was a rumor that floated around that the company from Utah had decided not to build there,” said Jonathan Peart, who lives close to the proposed development. “Which was a great relief to all of us in the neighborhood because we didn't want the extra traffic, the extra people.”
Some did not know that the project was stopped two years ago and expressed some relief.
“In the mornings, it's kind of rough trying to get out of our driveway here and so we were hoping that maybe if that was going to happen that they'd put in a light or something like that,” said Josh Johnson. “But yeah, if it's not going to go through, that's good news for us.”
“I don't think that people really think about it much these days because nothing's happening, but it's a good thing for the neighborhood for as long as it lasts,” Peart said.
