"Architect seeks beer garden (client/owner) for Great Falls"

I may be biased through my German upbringing, with beer gardens in every village, on every farm, in every other back yard,  on top of most castles, and along every lake, river, and creek. Beer gardens are generally family friendly, inviting the community to take a break. They feature simple but fresh menus, often with breakfast and lunch specials. There are garden elements such as trees, flowers, lawns or fountains, and it's common to have a play zone for little ones. Coffee drinks and "Saftschorle" (half juice, half soda water) are as common as the beverage giving these places it's name. Office workers cherish an outdoor lunch opportunity as much as weekend warriors.

As an architect, I wish I could wave my magic wand, and turn these environments into reality. To be honest, our powers turn out to be rather limited. We can design buildings, work with banks, builders, and owners to create or update a variety of spaces. But even the greatest space depends on organizations to own and operate them. Individuals such as owners of tenant businesses, chefs and service staff impact the overall success of a project as much as the architect. But even with all those in place, a space only comes to life with us, the community.  

This post wouldn't be complete without reference to some of the places around town that already come close to the spirit of a beer garden. Machinery Row is a cool historic building on 202 2nd Ave S, and houses a number of tenants including a sandwich restaurant (Staggering Ox), a Pizza place in the works,  as well as two bars. Tucked to the side, it features a great little side yard, that occasionally  fills up with music and people, transforming it into a true beer garden. Visit some of their concerts or open mic nights, and you'll get a taste of it.  The Front and  MacKenzie River also offer nice outdoor seating areas.

What is your favorite outdoor eating or drinking spot in town? Where would you like to see a beer garden? Attached to your favorite restaurant, along the river, or overlooking one of our beautiful parks?

Check out a variety of outdoor dining environments, from tiny to plaza-filling, on our Pinterest site: http://pinterest.com/sparkarch/dining-environments/
 
Whether you have plans for a beer garden or something else, call us at  406.453.0001 , or email me at sophia@spark-architecture.com

Enjoy your summer,
Sophia

What Great Falls craves (Part 2, independent restaurants)

Last Friday we asked the Great Falls Facebook community what restaurants they would love to see here. Four days later we received over 200 responses. We already reported your most wanted restaurant chains, so let's move on to suggestions for individual cuisines or independent restaurants.

Seventeen comments focused on the need for more good Mom and Pop shops; local ingredients, both produce and meats; and uniqueness and originality:

Amy G.:"We have a tremendous resource of food in our backyard, and restaurants don't utilize it. There's beef, chicken (I think if the market was there we'd have more smaller operations willing to supply them), lamb, and it looks like pork is finally coming around to being more available around here (...)"

Amy M. C.:"(...) Something fusion mixing modern elements with good ol' home cookin' (think steak meets exotic mushrooms in a gorgeous stack.) "

Bill S.: "I'd like to see the restaurants we have try to do a better job sourcing ingredients here in Montana and promoting it on their menus. Most of the time you can't even get a "Made in Montana" steak or burger in a steakhouse."

Brian N.: "(...) Good and local with a unique flair bring it on. (...)"


The most popular cuisines were:

1. Thai (8)
2. Italian (7)       // over 40 if we count Olive Garden votes.
3. Fresh Seafood (6)  // 28 if we count Red Lobster votes.
4. Indian (4)
5. Japanese (3)
6. Authentic BBQ (3)
7. Middle Eastern / Mediterranean (3)
8. Soup& Salad (2)
9. Raw / Organic/ Healthy (2)
10. Soul Food (2)

Other requests included fresh Mexican food, a juice bar, Moroccan, and Vietnamese food.

Share your comments on https://www.facebook.com/SparkArchitecture


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What Great Falls craves (Part 1, Chains)

Last Friday we asked our local Facebook community what restaurants they would love to see in Great Falls. Four days later we received over 200 responses, and so far Olive Garden (OG) is the overwhelming winner (36 votes and counting). Red Lobster (RL), currently holding 22 votes as the close second.

The striking popularity (in absence) caused us to look a little closer: Darden Restaurants, the parent of both chains describes the Red Lobster brand as "the promise of a refreshing seaside dining experience", and Olive Garden, as "an idealized Italian family meal".  The strategy seems to pay off. While the dining sector as a whole was struggling in recent years, Darden Restaurant stock keeps growing.

http://investor.darden.com/investors/stock-information/default.aspx

The bad news for fans of both brands is that they generally require trade areas between 100,000 (OG) and  125,000 (RL) people, so it may be worth considering a local seafood and Italian dining alternative. Consider that a much larger portion of local business profits stays in the community. But before we look at the local food wishlist, check out the remaining Top-Ten of chains:

3. Famous Dave's	15
4. Texas Road House	12
5. Chipotle	10
6. Buffalo Wild Wings	10
7. Chick-fil-A	9
8. Dave'n'Busters	8
9. Hooters	8
10. Chuckecheese	8

Brittany B. commented that Famous Dave's (#3) and Five Guys (#16) will be here soon.

Other chains in order of popularity included:

-->

Cracker Barrel	7
Red Robin	6
Burger Master	6
Outback	5
Johnny Carino's	5
5 Guys Burgers and Fries	4
Pf Changs	4
Joe's Crab Shack	3
Ihop	3
Cheesecake Factory	3
Zandy	3
Jack Box	3
White Castles	3
Panera Bread	3
Outback	3
Waffle House	2
Bubba Gump's	2
Dicks Hamburgers	2
Pizza Ranch	2
Souplantation	2

 Make sure to check out our next post on local food requests, and share your comments on https://www.facebook.com/SparkArchitecture


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Is Great Falls a good place to open a restaurant?

You may not be interested in running a restaurant, but found yourself saying "I wish we had a (fill in the blank) restaurant". Both individually owned local restaurants and chain restaurants have to feel confident about profitability within a local market. In 2012 Great Falls ranked #246 nationally, 12.44 points above average.

Source: http://www.monkeydish.com/towns-with-potential/home; captured 1/25/2013

In other words, if you wondered why national chain X isn't here yet, they have 245 other cities to go first. Amongst them are Missoula, Bozeman, Billings (which just saw a series of restaurants open), and Kalispell. Of course those chains have additional criteria such as special markets, available sites, traffic counts, and available liquor licenses.

The good news for local restaurants is that we still have 12.44 points of "untapped" potential. If our economy grows, we will see our ranking improve. If more restaurants come onto the market, it may drop, unless we start tapping into the Glacier-Yellowstone tourist flow, and increase local demand dramatically.

How do they come up with those ratings? The Journal "Restaurant Business" explains it in their April 2012 edition. In a few words, our local average income, existing number of restaurants, and population are compared to US averages. One-hundred is average, and the higher above 100 the more promising the market is to new restaurants.

Curious about the best towns to open up shop? Corbin, KY (the origin of KFC), and Key West, FL are top contenders! Go to http://www.monkeydish.com/ for more information.

"Restaurant Business" Journal, April 2012, p.22

Provided by Spark Architecture

Downtown Great Falls Master Plan

Following up on some of your comments on Facebook , I'd like to share some thoughts on Master plans, and reference specific information about our current Downtown Master Plan, adopted October 2011.

The current Great Falls Masterplan can be downloaded at: http://www.greatfallsmt.net/sites/default/files/archives/records/minutes/yr2011/DTMP.pdf

Master plans are a great way to build general guidelines, and incorporate comments from (extensive) public meetings into one handy document. The goals for our current Master plan could be paraphrased as a connected, flourishing Downtown, that serves as a local destination, offers more residential options, and improved aesthetics. Each of those goals has a set of objectives and implementation outlines, and yes, "Complete Streets" is mentioned more than once. It also lists a number of strategies to bring more life Downtown on evenings and weekends.

When new projects are proposed to the City, folks on the Planning Board, Commission, and City staff review them for general compliance with the plan. While additional public comment is usually required and encouraged, it allows the City to approve compliant projects with relative ease.

That being said, given limited public funds, any master plan heavily depends on residents, developers, and other organizations to bring it to life. Recognizing this, the current plan suggested the formation of a Downtown Developing Board including a variety of community stakeholders and groups. Late 2012 the "Downtown Partnership" was formed,  hopefully channeling the energy and initiatives into more actual progress.

If you are interested in long term planning for Great Falls (beyond downtown), make sure to follow the growth policy update and events. Throughout 2012 the City has received ample citizen participation in formulating the new growth policy, which will guide Great Falls' long term direction and planning decisions.




Provided by Spark Architecture

Great Falls - Historic Walking Tours

We pass these buildings many times, wondering what stories they hold. Next time you're downtown, on River Edge Trail, or the Railroad district, check out one of the historic walking trail brochures:

"The Central Business Historic District Walking Tour Brochure presents a sampling of the history and architecture of downtown Great Falls and celebrates a collaboration of business, tourism, history and the arts.  Ninety-nine buildings contribute to the history of the district, which was listed in the National Register of Historic Places in 2004."

"The River’s Edge History Tour provides a look at the pre-history and historical resources along the Missouri River corridor.  The approximately five mile section of the river will take about two hours if you are walking the River’s Edge Trail for the entire distance.  There are numerous access points along trail, and the Lewis & Clark Interpretive Center, the Fish Wildlife & Parks Visitor Center and Giant Springs State Park also offer parking and other public facilities.  The history tour is great companion piece for the River’s Edge Trail Map."


 "In 1993, the Great Falls Railroad Historic District was listed in the National Register of Historic Places, the official list of the nation’s resources considered worthy of preservation.  This brochure provides a stroll through the district that once served the bustling railroad freight and passenger business in Great Falls and Gibson Park, the city’s premier park."


 Excerpts from The City of Great Falls Historic Preservation Office website.



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Grants (a.k.a. money) for your ideas

Always wanted to build a playground, school garden, add to your neighborhood park, or library? The MSU extension office painstakingly lists  available grant programs. If you don't have a project in mind yet, check out available grants for ideas.

Intimidated by "grant writing"? There is no magic to it, and you don't need a special degree, just a good dose of enthusiasm. A lot of grants are easy online forms. For others, shoot us a comment with your ideas, and we'll connect you with community resources to help.

At the time of this writing the list contained close to 200 available grants. Below are just a few fun grants with upcoming due dates:


Jamba Juice (due 2/18): http://grants.kidsgardening.org/its-all-about-fruit-and-veggies

Grow Your Park (due 2/6): http://www.nrpa.org/garden/

Do something (Seeds and other grants, weekly): http://www.dosomething.org/grants/seed-grants


Enjoy, and start doing something :)



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