Lori Marlenee talks about the sale of the mobile home park where she lives.
From shadowy, out-of-state private equity groups buying up mobile home parks in Missoula and then jacking up lot rents to mysterious data center companies signing agreements to purchase massive quantities of coal-fired electricity in Montana, there have been some huge business and housing stories covered by the Missoulian so far in 2025.
With our paywall-free stretch over Labor Day weekend and through Tuesday, you can catch up on these stories and find out what you’ve been missing if you’re not a subscriber. Of course, if you are a subscriber, you’ve probably already read these stories and can look forward to more coverage like this:
Coal-fired data centers
Starting in December of 2024, NorthWestern Energy began signing letters of intent to supply mind-boggling amounts of power to data center companies in Montana.
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The Colstrip power plant seen from above in August 2024. Vast quantities of coal will be dug up and burned at the Colstrip power plant in sout…
In fact, four separate data center companies have announced plans locate to Montana and to consume as much as 2,000 megawatts of power by the year 2030. That’s more power than all of Montana currently consumes, and it’s enough electricity to power 1.6 million homes for a year.
There are only about 540,000 homes in all of Montana. NorthWestern Energy’s existing customers in Montana only use about 750 megawatts per year right now.
The power for at least two of the new data centers will come from vast amounts of coal that will be burned in the Colstrip Generating Station in southeast Montana. NorthWestern Energy, the state’s largest monopoly utility, is acquiring a larger share of that power plant’s generating capacity on Jan. 1, 2026. That’s because companies located in Oregon and Washington have divested from the Colstrip plant due to clean energy laws enacted in those states.
None of the data centers have been built yet, but two are planned to be located in Butte, one near Billings and the other near Great Falls.
Top executives at NorthWestern Energy have said the deals are good news.
“The scale of (the) projected energy demand presents an opportunity to improve overall system efficiency,” said Bleau LaFave, vice president of asset management and business development at NorthWestern Energy. “By delivering more kilowatt-hours across our system, we can better utilize our infrastructure and potentially reduce per-unit costs.”
But for Anne Hedges, the executive director of a Helena-based nonprofit called the Montana Environmental Information Center, the deals are something that Montanans should be shocked and concerned about.
“Where’s all that power going to come from?” she said. “Where’s all this infrastructure coming from and who’s going to pay for it? NorthWestern says they’re going to share the cost of all this new infrastructure and it will lower the cost for everyone. No, no. You’re going to shift the cost of adding this kind of upgrade to existing customers, that’s what you’re saying. You’re just going to be cost-shifting.”
There are a lot of unanswered questions, including how involved the Montana Public Service Commission and the Montana Legislature will be in regulating these new power customers.
Trailer park woes
Out-of-state investor groups have been snapping up mobile home parks in Missoula and across Montana and then raising rents on residents.
In January, a large 103-unit mobile home park just outside of Missoula for people 55 and older was sold to a Texas-based real estate investment firm, which subsequently jacked up lot rents.
The Texas company, Axia Realty Partners, increased lot rents at Katoonah Lodges by $100 per month. That prompted deep dismay among residents.
Trailer park sold 01
Lori Marlenee, a resident of Katoonah Lodges mobile home park, is one of many residents anxious about their living situation after they found …
“It’s scary,” said resident Lori Marlenee. “There’s 103 households here, mostly seniors on limited incomes, that are going to be displaced or homeless. It’s a real scary thing.”
Last week, the Missoula County commissioners wrote a letter to the owners of Axia saying they were concerned that there has been a lack of communication about long-term plans for the park.
“Manufactured home communities like Katoonah Lodges are among the last remaining sources of naturally occurring, unsubsidized affordable housing in Missoula County,” wrote commissioners Juanita Vero, Dave Strohmaier and Josh Slotnick. “While we recognize your right to manage this property as an investment and understand the pressures of rising operating costs, we urge you to remember that it is also home to more than a hundred of our senior neighbors whose stability and dignity depend on it remaining affordable.”
In June, another large trailer park in Missoula got news of a big lot rent increase from their out-of-state owner, also an investment firm based in Texas.
Travois Village, which has about 280 tenants, was purchased by an LLC in Texas in 2023 and is managed by a company called Oakwood Properties. Oakwood informed the residents that they were going to have to pay $150 more per month, prompting shock and outrage. The rent hike came just after another hike back in 2023.
“So over the last two years, our rents are $400 more, just for a spot to park,” said Jessica McDaid, a resident who is trying to organize a tenant’s union. “It’s not sustainable. It’s forcing people out. Missoula already has a huge homelessness crisis. This is going to make it worse.”
After a public outcry and involvement by state lawmakers, Oakwood Properties said they had conducted a “revised market analysis” and were now only raising the monthly rent by $50.
The two incidents come after a string of mobile home parks in Missoula and across Montana were snapped up by out-of-state companies which then raised rents.
Doctors criticize St. Pat’s
In June, a group of five doctors and two nurse practitioners who work at the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology at the Western Montana Clinic have released a strongly-worded open letter condemning what they say is a failure by the CEO of St. Patrick Hospital to seek their input before announcing the closure of the Family Maternity Center at St. Pat’s.
St. Pat’s announced in June that due to external challenges such as “flat and declining birth volumes and workforce shortages,” the 10-year-old Family Maternity Center will be closed in October of this year.
The seven caregivers released the open letter to the community. It was written by Dr. Elise Abicht, Dr. Janice Givler, Dr. Jennifer Mayo, Dr. Meghan Moorhead, Dr. Amy Smith, nurse practitioner Candace Hoppe and nurse practitioner Sandra Richardson.
“As the Ob/Gyns of Western Montana Clinic, providing all obstetric and gynecologic care at Saint Patrick Hospital, we must correct the misleading statements made by CEO Mr. Bill Calhoun regarding the closure of the Family Maternity Center,” they wrote. “Despite Mr. Calhoun’s assurances that this decision was carefully considered with input from ‘key clinical experts, community leaders, and internal stakeholders,’ this is categorically false. None of the physicians or clinical staff from the FMC, nor leadership of the Western Montana Clinic, were included in any decision-making process. We learned of our unit’s closure on the morning of June 3rd — mere hours before the public announcement — through a meeting to which only one of our five Ob/Gyns was invited, and for the rest of us, via a hospital-wide memo.”
The Missoulian’s website is paywall-free for all to read through Tuesday, Sept. 2.
David Erickson is the business reporter for the Missoulian.
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