Neighborhood hub envisioned at Market Square in Missoula. Transformation to set the standard for the future.

A string of cars slowed to a crawl in the noontime sun Friday on Russell Street south of the Clark Fork River.

It’s a sidewalk-less stretch of road with potholes where the pavement fades at the gravel shoulder. The streetscape is a hodgepodge of chain-link fence and urban detritus.
It’s a great starting point for a vision of a future Russell Street, said Geoff Badenoch, a project manager at Missoula Housing Authority.

“Russell Street, in my mind, will be like Higgins Avenue, with that density and architectural streetscape. If you look down Russell Street from River to Third in 20 or 30 years, that land will be totally transformed,” Badenoch said.

A centerpiece of his vision is Market Square on Russell, the former Intermountain Lumber Co. site on the west side of Russell just north of Silvercrest, the Salvation Army’s low-cost senior housing development.

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"He also hopes to form partnerships with private developers"

Geoff Badenoch, Project Manager

Intermountain Development Company, Inc.

Missoula Housing Authority

tel.:406.549.4113 ex 114

fax: 406.549.6406

[email protected]

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By ROBERT STRUCKMAN of the Missoulian

Full Story: http://www.missoulian.com/articles/2006/08/06/news/local/news04.txt