A developer said Thursday that Sportsman's Warehouse has backed out of his planned $26.5 million "Cornerstone Plaza" on Harrison Avenue in Butte. But besides a Planet Fitness, Dave Leon still didn't say publicly what national chains will be part of the plaza.
"So far we've been able to line up some unusual, high-profile national tenants," Leon said by phone, telling the board that oversees the South Harrison Avenue Urban Renewal District that he has seven so far. "We've had huge interest from some giant nationals — I'll just say home improvement national stores, actually all of them," he said. "And we've actually had some large, very large, the largest grocery stores have been to our site two to three times.
" Leon announced in October 2023 that he was bringing a Planet Fitness to Butte as part of a "synergy plaza" with 11 "big national tenants" of stores and restaurants — the kind seen in Helena, Missoula and Bozeman but not here. Major dirt work has been done on a sprawling site near Bert Mooney Airport but Leon still hasn't said what other stores and restaurants are coming. He wants lease agreements in place before naming them, he said.
"It hasn't been easy, you know, because it's like herding cats to get all these tenants together on time," he said. "I'll relinquish all their names in a very short period of time." But he did mention Sportsman's Warehouse.
"We had one setback where we had an executed lease with a large national anchor store that is struggling and they used the excuse of poor permitting to try to terminate their lease," Leon said. "We had them legally but in an eff ort to continue and expedite the project and not get in a lawsuit, we did settle and they ended up terminating their lease, and that was Sportsman's Warehouse," he said. The Montana Standard contacted Sportsman's Warehouse seeking comment.
Leon is CEO of New Yorkbased PF Management Group and the owner and operator of all Planet Fitness centers in Montana, Wyoming, North Dakota and Latin America. He noted Thursday that a new traffic light is planned for the entrance to the plaza and said infrastructure work is pending. The plaza will ultimately host 10 to 11 national stores and restaurants, he said, and he hopes some will open in June 2025.
Leon isn't the only one promising coming attractions to Butte. Three men from Corvallis, Oregon announced in late May they purchased the Butte Plaza Mall for $8.5 million and planned to bring in several new tenants, including two clothing stores, a sporting goods store, two craft stores and beauty supply store.
They said it will also include a chain grocery store but didn't name it or any of the other businesses, saying they hoped to share more concrete plans in the coming months. Karen Byrnes, Butte-Silver Bow's Community Development director, said county officials have been "constantly working with them on their plans." "They're hoping to move forward with a groundbreak this fall with some of the demolition work that will need to occur at the mall," Byrnes told board members overseeing the South Harrison taxing district.
Mike Smith is a reporter at the Montana Standard with an emphasis on government and politics. Get local news delivered to your inbox!.
