Flathead County offers to buy old Wal-Mart building for jail

KALISPELL (AP) – Flathead County has a tentative agreement to purchase a former Wal-Mart building in Evergreen to house the county jail.

The county has hired experts to study the feasibility of using the 130,000-square-foot former box store for a jail as well as to conduct an environmental study on the 14-acre site.

The Wal-Mart building was constructed in 1995 and the company is paying on a lease through the end of this year. The company closed the Evergreen store about five years ago when it opened a new Wal-Mart north of Kalispell.

County administrator Mike Pence said the building is owned by RIC Kalispell Trust of Brooklyn, New York. The city has agreed on a $2.8 million purchase price.