While the Children’s Museum of Montana continues to find a new location, city officials are recommending extending their lease of a city-owned building for a year.

Commissioners are scheduled to hold a public hearing on the lease during their Feb. 20 meeting.

The museum is currently located in a city-owned building behind the Civic Center at 22 Railroad Square.

City considering lease extension for Children’s Museum

The museum has leased the property, formally known as the Zellerbach Building, since September 1997.

Discussions continuing about possible home for Children’s Museum in Black Eagle

The City Commission approved a 15-year lease agreement for the museum on Dec. 2, 2003 with an automatic five-year renewal.

The original lease required the museum to pay all utility, maintenance and repair costs of the building and its systems, according to city documents.

On Jan. 2, 2019, commissioners approved a new lease agreement through November 2023 without an automatic renewal.

Community meeting set on potential use of Black Eagle property for children’s museum

That lease gave the museum another five years to search for a new location since the city needed the building for additional office space, according to staff at the time.

Since then, the museum looked at several possible locations but none came to fruition.

Over the last year, the museum has been working with Cascade County officials and others to potentially use the Stray Moose building in Black Eagle as a home for the museum. The site is within a superfund site that the county is working with the former smelter company, Montana Department of Environmental Quality and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency for cleanup efforts.

City Manager Greg Doyon is recommending a one-year lease effective Dec. 1, 2023 that may be administratively extended for an additional year if the museum hasn’t yet relocated.

County, agencies discussing details for potential use of Black Eagle site for Children’s Museum

After the first two years, commissioners will annually consider and review the lease for another year and may consider market rate lease adjustments, or other modifications, according to staff.

The museum is still required to pay all utility, maintenance and repair costs for the building and its systems.

Staff has presented to commissioners many times in recent years about the need for additional space, including the recent project to remodel the Missouri Room upstairs in the Civic Center for Municipal Court space.

County approves rezone for Black Eagle site eyed for future Children’s Museum home

The project, approved by commissioners but opposed by the city-county Historic Preservation Advisory Commission, eliminates four established meeting spaces and a small office space.

For future Civic Center space needs, Doyon’s long-term vision, subject to commission approval and funding, according to the staff report, is:

• the Missouri Room renovation for Municipal Court
• renovate the existing court space in the basement for IT training and meeting space
• move the planning and community development department into the museum’s building after renovation
• moving the city attorney’s office to the current planning office, which puts it closer to the court space with more room for attorneys and support staff