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Tom Kelly
Tom Kelly
The Real Estate Adviser

June 7, 1996

MARYSVILLE MAN BUILDING NEW TOWN

BY TOM KELLY
The Real Estate Advisor

Terry Parks always wanted to build a residential community from scratch. Ten months ago, he found one with the infrastructure and many buildings already in place.

"I was convinced years ago that there was a pent-up demand for a retirement community in a rural atmosphere," the Marysville investor said. "I was very close on a property outside of Bozeman. But this one was further along. We were able to hit the ground running."

This one is really in the middle of nowhere but Parks is betting retirees will be attracted to its safe, wide-open spaces, clean air and peace and quiet. Accent on the quiet.

St. Marie, Mont. population about 250, is on a rolling prairie 17 miles north of Glasgow, population 3,500, in the northeast portion of Big Sky Country. St. Marie's 30 children go to Glasgow for school. That's where the locals shop, until the gas station/mini-mart and supermarket go up in St. Marie.

St. Marie once was known as Glasgow Air Force Base, the home of B-52 strategic bombers poised against the Soviet Union. In the early 1960s, it employed nearly 10,000 people. The Boeing Company has since purchased the airfield -- about three miles from the streets of St. Marie -- where the aerospace giant performed the final testing on the 777 aircraft.

However, you can't just fly to St. Marie. It's typically reached by car, Amtrack or flying to Glasgow via Billings, 280 miles to the southwest.

In 1985, Patrick Kelly, a retired Air Force officer, bought all 1,223 housing units and 360 acres for $520,000 and announced plans for a retirement community aimed primarily at the military. Kelly's family-owned Valley Park Inc. began the huge task of refurbishing the structures and sold about 200 units before putting the property up for sale last year.

Parks signed an agreement to purchase the parcel last summer, one month after seeing it. The deal closed April 5. Kelly remains as a minority owner and plans to retain his home there.

Parks, who redeveloped the campground at Lake Ki in Snohomish County, says he believes the town will hold 3,500 residents in 1,500 homes.

"This will be the fastest growing city in the country," Parks said. "We have held only introductory sessions and about 60 people have moved here just from the brief marketing efforts we've made."

A few have come for employment opportunities and the chance to own affordable housing -- even in the middle of the high plains.

"We need workers and several have chose to stay and live in St. Marie," said Janet Stimach, real estate broker who is coordinating the marketing of homes. "We have about 40 working now, but we will need close to 100. In fact, we are assuring one fulltime job per household for the first year of residency, paying up to $15,000 to $20,000 a year, depending upon skills."

Most of the housing units are duplexes and fourplexes, with a few single-family houses. A three-bedroom, two-story unit with full basement and attached garage starts at $59,000, with prices ranging up to about $89,000. All will be upgraded before sale and range in size from 1,055 square feet to 1,530 square feet.

All ownership is through an association where dues ($63-$101 a month) take care of exterior maintenance, insurance, lawn care and landscaping.

The numerous buildings not yet sold or refurbished are in need of exterior sprucing but new paint, siding and roofing is on the way -- along with the need for contractors.

The big boost came when an avid outdoorsman, Jack Nicklaus, while staying in a bed and breakfast outside of Glasgow on a hunting trip, toured St. Marie. He then sent his designers to craft a golf course within the St. Marie residential community and the project has since been financed and is set for construction. Some of the homes for sale are on the proposed course.

That should put St. Marie over the top. Most retirees will tell you as long as there is a good golf course near a good hospital (the Frances Mahon Deaconess Hospital in Glasgow has 200 employees) where you can fish (Fort Peck Lake), then you can live just about anywhere.

St. Marie is a long way from anywhere, but Parks and company will provide you free accommodations if you visit. (For more information, telephone 206-722-7978).

If you're heading East on Montana Highway 2 the St. Marie cutoff on Highway 24 reads "Opheim, 33." If you go through St. Marie and Opheim, it's only about 12 miles to the Canadian border and another 125 miles to Moose Jaw, Saskatchewan. There's a Western Hockey League team there -- in case you need something to do in the winter.



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