Six historic Butte buildings selected for revitalization grant

BUTTE, Mont. – Butte, a city renowned for its historic architecture, is set to breathe new life into its century-old buildings. County officials are taking steps to restore these landmarks through a significant grant.

Several historic sites in Uptown Butte are poised for restoration. Butte-Silver Bow County secured nearly $750,000 from the National Park Service's Paul Bruhn Historic Revitalization Grant to restore these properties.

The county received applications from over 35 property owners, narrowing it down to 15 for a second round of interviews before choosing the final six proposals.

"It was really heart-wrenching to not have money for all of them," said Kate McCourt, historic preservation officer of Butte-Silver Bow. "Everyone did such a wonderful job to make sure that they hit all of those criteria that we were asking for."

"We just hope that the community is pleased with what we've selected moving forward," McCourt said.

The six projects that were chosen were based on priorities such as their potential to generate economic prosperity or provide more affordable housing options.

"Walkerville Grocery was a great application, great guys doing the project," McCourt said. "We're funding them partially by purchasing their materials for them so they can get that grocery store up and running up in Walkerville."

"Stella's Vu Villa is one that we were able to fully fund, which is great because it has a critical stabilization need," McCourt added. "And those upper floors, we just don’t know how long they've been vacant for."

"We want these buildings that have been underutilized to be essentially brought back to life," McCourt said.

The county is now awaiting the final approval from the National Park Service on their funding plan before construction can commence.

The document below details the full list of award recipients, the amount of funding received, and their proposed revitalization project: