The owner of Belgrade Transmission on West Central Avenue said his monthly lease will increase from $2,800 to $9,500 when the current term ends in October. The building sits across the street from the new Bridger View development, where one-bedroom units lease for $2,200 and the lobby features a cold plunge pool.
“I’ve been turning wrenches here since 1998,” said owner Dale Harkins, 61. “The landlord told me the market has shifted. He used the word ‘upscale’ three times in one sentence.” Harkins employs three mechanics and an office manager. Two of them live in Belgrade. One commutes from Manhattan.
The property, a 4,200-square-foot metal building on 0.6 acres, sold in March for $1.4 million to Gallatin Gateway Holdings LLC. The previous sale, in 2014, was $385,000. The new ownership also acquired the adjacent lot where a single-wide trailer and a vegetable stand operated until June.
Bridger View broke ground in January. The four-story building contains 84 units and a ground-floor coffee concept called Bean & Beam. A leasing agent said 60% of units are pre-leased, primarily to remote workers relocating from Bozeman proper. The complex markets itself as “attainable luxury for the modern professional.”
Harkins said he has looked at three alternative locations in Belgrade. One was a former tire shop on Jackrabbit Lane listed at $6,200 per month. Another was a pole barn behind a mini-storage facility with no plumbing. The third was a 1,200-square-foot bay in a shared industrial park where the HOA prohibits “automotive fluids on asphalt.”
“I had a guy in a Land Rover Defender ask me last week if I do ceramic coating,” Harkins said. “I told him I change oil and rebuild transmissions. He said his detailer handles that. I didn’t know that was a job.”
The office manager, Sharon Voss, has started bringing her lunch from home. She said the rent increase on her own apartment in Belgrade went from $1,100 to $1,650 in May. Her daughter works as a barista at Bean & Beam.
Harkins has not decided whether to relocate or close. The transmission shop’s phone number, 406-555-0187, still answers with the same greeting it has used for twenty-six years.