Council Approves One Big Sky Memorandum

After more than three hours of testimony, the Billings City Council voted 6-2 Monday to approve One Big Sky Center’s pre-development memorandum of understanding.  Councilman Brent Cromley abstained from the vote.  His law office has completed work for the developers.
While the agreement contains no commitments or responsibilities, it does authorize staff to produce an acceptable development agreement by June 30, 2017.  Skip Ahern, one of three partners in MontDevCo LLC, told the city council he wasn’t yet asking for tax increment financing help.  MontDevCo seeks $30 million in tax increment financing as part of the $165 million it estimates it will need to complete the development.
Ahern said the construction firm Swank Enterprises will be heavily involved in the project.  A group of Millennials as well as members of the Billings business community told the council they were in favor of the city approving the predevelopment memorandum.