Burns Street Square

Three great projects, one great neighborhood -- Burns Street Commons; Missoula Community Co-op; Community Kitchen-Cafe and Meeting Space

The North-Missoula Community Development Corporation announces the development of the Burns Street Square. It's the most exciting and challenging project we've ever taken on. We also believe it's the project with the greatest potential payoff for Missoula.

The Center will include the Missoula Community Co-op, a commercial-kitchen and restaurant with public meeting space, and 17 affordable homes for income-qualified buyers. All of the land for these three great projects will be part of a community land trust and a permanent commonwealth for Missoula. Click here to view the schematic site plan.

The 1500 Burns Street site is just south of the MRL tracks and just east of Russell Street. The surrounding neighborhood has a median household income more than seven thousand dollars less than the rest of Missoula. The incidence of households receiving public assistance is twice as high here as in the larger city.

The Burns Street Square will be a great boost for this edge-neighborhood, both visually and economically. While we're raising funds to remodel the site's old freight building, the Co-op is running a pre-order food buying club out of the building's offices. The buying club offers products from a variety of local producers. Next year, the now unpaved truck yard will blossom into housing. We're accepting home ownership applications now.

The Burns Street Square will constitute a tremendous reinvestment in the old residential neighborhoods north of the Clark Fork River. The community center building will offer infrastructure for job training and increase access to good nutrition in the low-income neighborhood. A subsidized meal program will serve neighborhood kids. Beyond that, this community center will bridge the gap between rural and urban Montana by providing a new market for local farmers and ranchers - a place to share our regional harvest.

We've received help in developing our vision and purchasing the property from the Catholic Campaign for Human Development, the US Department of Agriculture (Community Food Projects Grant), the State of Montana, the City and County of Missoula, the Mission Mountain Market Cooperative Development Center, the Northwest Area Foundation and a number of local citizens. We're continuing to spread the word and we're asking you to help out. For more information about the project, our vision, or our partners, please contact us. Talk to us about setting up a time to visit the site and take a tour of the building.