Business Bites: Cartwheel demolition planned for Chipotle; Fiesta En Jalisco managers leaving; Emerald City Casino demolition planned; The Electric’s 5th Anniversary party; Downtown Night Market; new Panda Express location planned
Updated June 23 at 7 p.m.
Cartwheel
The former Cartwheel at 1900 10th Avenue South is being demolished.
The city planning department approved a demolition permit this week.
Mountain West Bank is the property owner and Talcott Properties is managing the project.
In May, the city approved a request from Talcott to vacate 10th Alley South to make it feasible for a new restaurant to be constructed.
Multiple documents submitted to the city planning office for the project indicate that a Chipotle is planned for the site.
Chipotle hasn’t yet confirmed the location but told The Electric in May that they were “exploring opportunities” to come to Great Falls.
The northern half of the property is the Cartwheel and the southern half is vacant. The alley vacation will allow the applicant to reroute alleyway traffic and existing utilities to accommodate more buildable area on the site.
The new site plan will have a curved alleyway directed south to an access point on 11th Avenue South, which would also be one of two access points for the potential restaurant.
Fiesta En Jalisco
The managers at Fiesta En Jalisco are leaving the company.
In a post, they said that after 16 years, they were moving on to begin a new chapter of their lives.
Managers Antonia Verbera and Josefa Davis said in their post that customers should use their gift certificates or cash them out by June 30.
They said in their post that they “hope to keep serving you in the future.”
Josefa Davis told The Electric that the managers were leaving the franchise and that they don’t know at this time what the franchise is planning to do with the Great Falls restaurant.
She said that the corporation is meeting this week and will let them know if they are sending someone to take over management of the Great Falls restaurant or if they are closing the location.
On June 23, Davis told The Electric that the restaurant will be closing on June 30.
There are rumors that Texas Roadhouse is moving into that location, but the Texas Roadhouse corporation told The Electric that “it’s a great area, but we do not have any specific plans at this time.”
No permits have been filed at the city related to the property.
The Holiday Bar and Casino will continue operating as usual after Fiesta En Jalisco closes, according to their management.
They are looking for another restaurant to partner with and will continue serving pizza and possibly bring in a nacho or taco bar, according to the bar.
We’ll update as more information becomes available.
Emerald City Casino
The owners of Emerald City Casino at the corner of 10th Avenue South and 17th Street have submitted a variance request for the property.
They have purchased the former Carriage Trade Dry Cleaner building and are planning to demolish the former Emerald City Casino building on the corner where a triple homicide occurred in December 2019.
They’re planning to build a new building on the site of the former dry cleaners that will include a casino.
During that crime investigation, the business owners had to put the liquor license into a nonuse status and they were served with civil lawsuits the last of which was settled in April 2022.
The Montana Department of Revenue allows a year of nonuse status and the department sent letters to the Emerald City owners that they would lose their license, according to a letter to the city from owner John Enott.
Due to the investigation and lawsuits, the DoR granted an extension to put the license back in use.
Enott said they “could not imagine going back into the same building, so we decided to buy the adjoining Carriage Dry Cleaner building, tear down the eye sore where the murders occurred and remodel the dry cleaners.”
Because the property is within about 450 of a city park, the property owner has applied for a variance from the city, since the code requires a 600 foot distance for a liquor license from city parks and playgrounds.
Staff is recommending approval of the variance.
The Electric’s 5th Anniversary/Great Falls Greats Winners
The Electric’s 5th Anniversary party is June 25 at The Newberry.
Celebrating five years of local news, Great Falls Greats 2022
We’ll be announcing the winners of this year’s Great Falls Greats contest that night too.
50 Watt Sun, Chuck Fulcher and the Trent Brooks Band are playing, with food from Enbar.
Get your tickets now here.
Downtown Night Market
The first downtown Night Market of the summer is 5 p.m. June 24.
The market includes craft vendors, art demonstrations, food vendors and live music.
The market is on the 300 and 400 blocks of Central Avenue.
Panda Express
Panda Express is planning a new location in West Bank. The company submitted a variance request to the city recently for the property related to landscaping in the parking lot.
City staff is recommending denial but expects the project to move forward.
El Comedor
The city issued an interior remodel permit to the new owners of El Comedor last week.
Car wash
The city issued a permit for a new car wash at 620 57th St. S. recently.
Car wash proposed for 57th Street
