On March 4, 2024, the Missoula City Council gave final approval for the Scott Street-Ravara mixed-use development – a project over three years in the making that will help address the urgent shortage of attainable housing for Missoula-area residents. The project is the largest income-qualified community land trust project in state history and is a partnership between the City of Missoula and Ravara Development LLC (a subsidiary of Goodworks Ventures). The masterplan for the entire nine-acre site includes three acres with a community land trust supporting 46 income-qualified and 43 market-rate homes, and five acres with 225 market-rate rental apartments and 35,000 square feet of the development earmarked for commercial development, including a childcare center, neighborhood grocery, and a third space for the community together with food and beverage options.
Ravara, with legal support from Parsons Behle & Latimer, collaborated with several capital partners to make the project a reality, including the Missoula Redevelopment Agency which approved $9.8 million for infrastructure and construction funding; the City of Missoula which donated the three-acre for the community land trust and $2.1 million subordinated loans to be used as equity; and First Security Bank which approved a $9.5 million construction loan with creative structuring and an additional $3 million in EQ2 funds. Additional community partners included the North Missoula Community Development Corporation that will serve as the community land trust steward in perpetuity and the Missoula Economic Partnership that provided the initial site feasibility study.
Goodworks Venture CEO Dawn McGee says, “Goodworks is a family office that literally does good work in communities in Montana. When we see a problem, we address it. As the pandemic wound down, we realized that if someone didn’t do something to address the shortage of accessible housing, we were going to be in trouble. We need to provide capacity for housing for the necessary people in our community – firefighters, teachers, nurses – and currently, that’s not happening. There are no good programs at the federal, state or local level to help achieve homeownership for missing middle housing. In collaboration with many talented people, and with the cooperation of the city, the state, banks and our team, we designed the project around the Community Land Trust model, with the collaboration of all our partners. No one showed up at the table without contributing a lot.”
Building is scheduled to begin March 2024. The entire project is projected to be completed in late 2027.
