The Crane Over North 27th Street, and the Other Downtown Billings Buildings Changing Around It

Why does the one downtown project with a tower crane over it have no city housing deadline, while a historic building two blocks away has one and still has no confirmed start date?

Four big projects are under way or planned in the core of Downtown Billings right now. A new hotel, the old Masonic Temple, the Old Billings Hardware building and the Futurity Tower site sit within a few blocks of each other. They are moving at very different speeds. The difference has less to do with how badly downtown wants them than with whose rules came attached to the money behind each one.

The crane went up because the hotel only had to answer to itself

The AC Hotel by Marriott at North 27th Street and Second Avenue North is the project you can't miss. KTVQ reported in June 2026 that construction was under way on a 135-room hotel with seven ground-floor stores, an AC Kitchen and an upstairs restaurant. Opening is projected for the end of 2027 or early 2028. A 2026 Billings Gazette roundup of downtown projects described a seven-story building, a spring 2026 start and a construction estimate of about 22 months.

By September, a tower crane was working over the site. Donald Cape, co-developer with JWT Capital LLC, told KTVQ on September 1 that Second Avenue North had been affected for about five months. The North 27th Street closure was only for putting up the crane. He also told KTVQ how long the crane will stay:

"This crane will be here pretty much for the duration of the project as it goes vertical and then as the exterior is completed."

That means the crane will likely be part of the North 27th skyline through 2027. Neighbors are working around it at street level. In the same KTVQ report, managers at Burger Dive and Montana Brewing Company said the alley behind their buildings handles deliveries, trash pickup and employee access, and that construction closures have become routine. Delivery drivers who used to pull into the alley now often park on the street and carry loads in by hand. A sidewalk closure near the fencing has pushed people walking by into the street. Mehmet Casey, economic development director with the downtown Billings association, told the station that the wider community has welcomed the project despite the disruption.

None of the reporting gathered for this post describes a city housing deadline or a federal housing program attached to it. The developers needed to build it, and they are building it. The next three projects all add housing to downtown, and each carries more strings than the one before.

The Masonic Temple took city help paid for by future taxes

At the corner of Broadway and Third Avenue North, the historic Masonic Temple has been under renovation by Widmyer Corporation since January 2026. KTVQ's March 30 report described the plan as ground-floor retail, 10 studio apartments on the second floor, and offices with wellness space on the third floor. Completion was expected by the end of 2026. The Gazette's 2026 roundup counted nine residential units instead of 10, so the final number may land in that range.

The public money here came from the city's downtown tax increment financing district. KTVQ reported in July 2025 that City Council approved about $1.3 million in TIF for the project. The money covers infrastructure work, and the rehabilitation plan is designed to keep the building's historic features. As Downtown Billings explains on its development page, TIF sets aside only the increase in property-tax value inside a designated urban renewal district and puts it back into that same district. The project team was also preparing to qualify for historic tax credits, but no award has been confirmed in reporting through March.

One layer of public help, and the work started on schedule. No retail or wellness tenant had been announced publicly as of the latest reports, so the storefronts are the open question to watch as the year-end target gets close.

Old Billings Hardware has more help and more deadlines

The vacant Old Billings Hardware building at 2802 Montana Ave. stacks more incentives than the Masonic Temple does, and it has moved more slowly. The LaFever family owns it, High Plains Architects is the design firm, and Randy Hafer is involved as developer. The plan calls for 24 workforce apartments on the second and third floors over ground-floor and basement retail and restaurant space. An August 2025 project overview submitted to the city lists seven commercial spaces. It also says a prospective master tenant pulled out.

The project first received city approval in 2022 and needed it renewed after delays, according to the City Council packet for September 8, 2025. The terms are worth a close look. The award is up to $745,000, paid as five annual reimbursements of $149,000 after the project is finished. The developer pays for construction up front, and the city money arrives over the following years.

The Billings Gazette reported that the council reauthorized the TIF with a condition: the project has to reach 80% completion by March 30, 2027. The paper also reported that federal historic rehabilitation tax credits were approved in October 2025. At the council discussion, the developers said work could start in early 2026 but financing was not yet secured. The Gazette's 2026 roundup later said construction was slated to begin in spring 2026 and finish in 2027. No public report confirms that work has actually started.

When the project was first announced, Hafer told KULR that historic tax credits help keep rents within reach for workers, and he described renovating the old building as an easier, more sustainable route to lower rents than new apartments. That same funding mix ties the building to a city deadline, a federal credit program and private lenders all at once. As of mid-October 2026, the March 2027 milestone is less than six months away.

The Futurity Tower ran into a federal parking rule

The tallest plan downtown is now the furthest from happening, at least at its original site. The Futurity Tower was proposed as a 12-story mixed-use building with 120 apartments over two floors of commercial space, at North 29th Street and First Avenue North.

The Billings Gazette reported that the plans for 102 N. 29th St. no longer include the tower. High Plains Architects was seeking help through the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development and hit one obstacle it could not get around. Downtown Billings CEO Katy Schreiner told the paper the problem was parking, or the lack of it. A Downtown Billings board meeting on February 27, 2026, approved ending the letter of intent. The organization still occupies the building, is pricing demolition and environmental cleanup, and plans to issue a new request for proposals for a smaller mixed-use project. High Plains told the Gazette it is looking at another downtown location and has not given up on the tower.

A downtown lot that works for a historic rehab or a hotel did not meet a federal housing program's parking standard. The shortage of dedicated parking on that corner is what ended the tower plan there.

Where each site stands for your next walk

Read from top to bottom, the table goes from the fewest outside conditions to the most. The hotel answers to its own developers. The Masonic Temple answers to one city incentive that is already in place. Old Billings Hardware has to line up city reimbursement, federal credits and private financing before a fixed date. The Futurity Tower depended on a federal program whose parking rule the site could not meet. In 2026, the projects with fewer conditions have moved first.

Over the coming year, the clearest signs of progress downtown will be the Masonic Temple's storefronts opening and the Montana Avenue hardware building showing a construction start before its March 2027 milestone.

If you own downtown and wonder how a finished hotel, new apartments or a redeveloped North 29th Street corner might affect your property's value, Live. Laugh. Montana. follows these projects block by block. Get your instant home valuation and schedule a consultation, and we will walk through what is being built near you.

This article is general information, not legal, tax or financial advice. Consult a qualified professional about your situation.