Knight Building honors Buck’s T-4 founders; will house 95 residents, primarily One&Only employees
By Jack Reaney SENIOR EDITOR
New workforce housing has opened behind Buck’s T-4, a longtime Big Sky establishment undergoing renovations by its current owner, Lone Mountain Land Company. The Knight Building is named after Buck and Helen Knight, who founded Buck’s T-4 Lodge in 1946.
LMLC announced the building’s completion in an Aug. 8 press release, stating it will house 95 residents as part of “LMLC’s ongoing $400-plus-million effort to help make Big Sky livable year-round.” Other LMLC housing developments include Powder Light, RiverView, Town Center, Golden Stone and Gateway Village, with additional plans to construct 688 units serving 1,700 Big Sky residents, for a total housing capacity above 4,000 “not exclusively for employees under the CrossHarbor umbrella,” according to the release. CrossHarbor Capital is the parent company of LMLC.
The Knight Building will primarily house employees of One&Only Moonlight Basin, which was developed in affiliation with CrossHarbor and LMLC.
“The Knight Building is an embodiment of our vision for a sustainable, thriving Big Sky community,” LMLC President Matt Kidd stated in the release. “Its efficient construction and innovative sustainable design set a new standard for workforce housing and shows our commitment to supporting those who want to make Big Sky home.”
The Knight Building is comprised of 120 prefabricated mass timber modules using “sustainable, durable” cross-laminated timber, which reduces carbon emissions in conjunction with a 70-kilowatt rooftop solar array and fully electric utilities. The building is airtight and thermally efficient with daylight-driven design, according to the release.
The modular design and robotic fabrication reduced onsite labor by one-third and construction time by one-half, making the Knight Building “a breakthrough in the construction industry,” the release stated, noting the innovative process was developed in Europe and applied for the first time in the U.S. on the Knight Building.
“Constructing the Knight Building with and for LMLC was a game-changing experience for us,” stated Rob McRae, co-founder of Highline Partners, a construction firm based in Bozeman and Big Sky. “… We were able to build a high-quality building more efficiently and quickly than anything we had done before. For Highline, this was more than just construction—it was about creating a space that minimizes environmental impact and maximizes long-term value for the community. We are excited by this way of making buildings and the possibilities of it for the future.”
The release included a statement of support from David O’Connor, executive director of the nonprofit Big Sky Community Housing Trust, although the housing trust is not involved with the Knight Building.
In addition to constructing housing on the Buck’s campus, LMLC still plans to open the historic restaurant onsite—rebranded to Buck’s Road House during recent renovations—but is still working out plans to successfully operate, according to LMLC representatives.
