BILLINGS - The Burger King on North 27th Street in downtown Billings closed its doors over the weekend, becoming the fifth business along the road to close in recent years.
The Conoco station, Denny's, a US Bank branch, and the HUB drop-in center are all located on the same block. All are now closed for business. And all are sudden changes to the neighborhood that have led to questions from residents like Uriel Lopez.
"It's busy, but it's empty, you know?" Lopez said. "It's really weird. Not really offsetting, just more like, what're they going to do with all the space?"
Lopez works at the Holiday gas station located on 27th Street. He said the changes have come fast and changed the atmosphere of the area.
"It was abrupt," Lopez said. "Literally, just yesterday we were all just chilling working our regular shift and we see all these cranes start taking down the Burger King sign."
Just down the street, the 94,000-square-foot Billings Gazette building is still up for sale, making this portion of downtown feel nearly empty.
"It's like the sense of community feels like it's really gone ever since a lot of these places have shut down," Lopez said.
But Downtown Billings Alliance development director Mehmet Casey isn't panicking about the business closures. He said his department views the changes as a unique opportunity.
"This particular site hasn't been this prepped for assemblage potentially ever," Casey said. "To us, the way we look at is this is an exciting opportunity because now you've got almost basically a city block completely open."
Casey said that if the right developer approaches the project, it could mean a huge change to the area.
"It could be a very big, first-of-its-kind in terms of operation and development in the downtown area," Casey said.
And Casey said he hopes a potential project is already in the works. All of the businesses, except for the Conoco, are in a blighted area of the downtown TIF district, which means developers could apply for city money to offset some costs of redevelopment.
"Four of those properties are potentially owned by the same family," Casey said. "That particular intersection there is an opportunity now where you can do something transformative."
And Lopez said that new business might be exactly what the area needs.
"It would be nice to have a place where people feel okay just walking around," Lopez said. "New business and new experiences, you know?"
