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Renovations underway at the Baatz building in Great Falls

Baatz building in downtown Great Falls
Posted at 9:41 AM, Jan 22, 2022
and last updated 2022-01-22 11:46:28-05

GREAT FALLS — The Baatz building at 400 2nd Avenue South in Great Falls may not look like much now, but it is in the process of being transformed into apartments for people coming out of homelessness.

NeighborWorks Great Falls took interest in the building in 2021 when it fell out of contract with someone else.

"One of NeighborWorks' core values is revitalizing the neighborhood, so it really just started discussions around what it could be and how we could make that happen,” said Katie Pung, the real estate director for NeighborWorks Great Falls.

NeighborWorks recently received $6.1 million in low-income housing tax credits from the Montana Board of Housing for the work on the building.

From the NeighborWorks website:

The building will contain 25 apartments targeted towards individuals who have previously experienced homelessness. Residents of the apartments will pay rent, have a lease and have one on one support from a case manager to help build independent living and tenancy skills as well as be connected to community based physical and mental healthcare services. The first floor of the building will house both case management professionals as well as the community-based service providers.

Sherrie Arey, director of NeighborWorks Great Falls, said, “The concept of bringing a project like this to Great Falls truly began in 2016 with the creation of the local Continuum of Care, a group of Great Falls organizations dedicated to the coordination of community-based healthcare services in order to address the needs of the chronically homeless.”

Their goal is to have the building ready in the spring of 2023.