RiverView Apartments in Big Sky provide freedom, opportunity for year-round workforce
By Jack Reaney SENIOR EDITOR
Editor’s note: This story was corrected to state the housing trust owns its portion of RiverView land.
They are not just buildings beside the highway.
For tenants like Marisol Mendez, the RiverView Apartments are a new home.
Mendez moved to Big Sky five years ago from Puerto Rico. She was born in Chicago and moved to Puerto Rico at age 12. She now works in the cafeteria at the Yellowstone Club.
“Oh my God, I was living in the housing, and I was wishing to have my own spot,” Mendez told EBS on Thursday afternoon, her granddaughter clinging to her leg. “And I’ve been trying since like three years to have my own place, and hopefully, I got it.”
Now that she’s moved in, life feels free—at 54 years old after five years in Big Sky, she finally lives alone. She watched after her granddaughter during the Oct. 24 ribbon-cutting ceremony for the new apartment buildings, a project funded through the federal Low-Income Housing Tax Credit program and led by the Big Sky Community Housing Trust. Lone Mountain Land Company is finishing up five privately funded buildings of its own on the eastern side of the RiverView complex.
“I have my home,” Mendez said. “And I feel more sure, and in peace. It’s awesome.”
She said RiverView is a blessing—she was on the verge of tears describing the moment she moved in, as staff helped carry her belongings and handed her a set of keys.
Her YC coworker, Stacie Bostic, is equally grateful. Until recently, she was living in employee housing in Gallatin Gateway, nearly an hour from the club. Mendez mentioned she was moving into RiverView, and Bostic joined the wait list.
She heard RiverView was hiring an on-site manager, and she immediately applied—the part-time job came with an apartment.
“I had an interview the next day, and I had an offer letter that Monday,” Bostic told EBS, beaming. “So, it was just—God is good.”
She said all the new tenants have been “very gracious” and “over the moon happy” to have housing they can afford in the community they serve, avoiding the two-hour commute in the dangerous, often snowy Gallatin Canyon.
Bostic really wants to be here. But she, like many of her peers, cannot afford rent without employer-provided housing. The average one- and two-bedroom rental in Big Sky costs $2,000 and $3,000, respectively, according to a housing trust study, which also reported that 80% of income-earning resident households need below-market housing.
Bostic’s peers also desire their own living space—preferably not shared units or dormitories which are typical employee housing offerings. “I don’t want to go back to Baltimore, I love working at the club, and I love living in Montana… But I’m 39 years old, and I want my own space. That’s what I’m hearing from the rest of the residents,” she said.
As for RiverView’s living conditions, Bostic said it’s so far, so good. Tenants are just happy to have their own space in a clean, safe environment near their job.
“The people that are living in these two buildings are the people that are serving them at the club, serving them at the cafe, working, cleaning their homes… They see us all the time. We’re behind the scenes, but we’re here,” Bostic said.
She added that the buildings are diverse, and that residents are proud to contribute to the Big Sky community. She’s also an ambassador for seasonal workers with the Community Support Group, led by Laura Seyfang, who happened to serve as the first executive director of the housing trust and helped envision RiverView.
“So we feel welcome, we don’t feel like we’re just the help that lives in these two buildings,” Bostic said.
Mendez loves Big Sky, too. It feels like family for her, and despite the cold winters and the culture differences, she said it’s a safe place to raise kids. Since arriving in 2019, she knew she wanted to stay. Now, she thanks the various community partners that made RiverView possible, because they built her a home.
“That’s what I’ve been waiting for a long time since I moved here—I left everything in Puerto Rico,” Mendez said. “And now I have my home.”
‘You are the reason we did this’
During the ribbon cutting ceremony, housing trust Executive Director David O’Connor concluded a long list of thank-yous by thanking the new residents.
“If you’re a resident of RiverView, please raise your hand,” O’Connor said, and the audience clapped for Bostic, Mendez and a few others in attendence.
“You are the reason that we did this… On behalf of the housing trust, Big Sky community and all these partners, please accept our welcome home.”
Much of the project was funded and made possible by Resort Tax—BSRAD funds allowed the housing trust to purchase a section of RiverView land from LMLC—so O’Connor borrowed their “Better Together” slogan when describing the various entities worthy of praise: BlueLine Development for its expertise and efficiency in construction; LMLC for its unparalleled partnership; Montana Board of Housing for enabling the federal LIHTC grant; Lizzie Peyton of Big Sky SNO for adding solar energy that will have a “very concrete effect” on residents’ utility bills; and his two teammates at the housing trust, Becky Brockie and Jennifer Boutsianis.
“If this doesn’t exemplify [better together], I don’t know what does,” O’Connor said. He added that there’s still work to be done as LMLC finishes its five buildings, “but at the end, this will be a total of about 100 homes at varying degrees of affordability for locals throughout the Big Sky community.”
“The people that are living in these two buildings are the people that are serving them at the club, serving them at the cafe, working, cleaning their homes… They see us all the time. We’re behind the scenes, but we’re here.”
Stacie Bostic, RiverView tenant and manager
Matt Kidd, LMLC managing director, said it’s important to pause along the way and recognize accomplishments. He offered “an extensive amount of praise” to the housing trust staff.
“This work is hard,” Kidd said. “Community building. Let’s not kid ourselves… Although we’re taking the time today to pause and celebrate, we know there’s more work to do, more exciting things to come.”
Kidd said the proposed Cold Smoke development will add an important step: homes for sale to local workers. “I’ll keep saying it forever: more locals living in Big Sky is a great thing. I’m very proud of that.”
Daniel Bierschwale, Resort Tax executive director praised all partners involved, with a special shoutout to Laura Seyfang.
“Without Laura’s vision this project would not have been a reality. We are all proud of your tenacious ability to ‘move and shake’ and the legacy that will be left on Big Sky because of your efforts,” Bierschwale said.
Seyfang was surprised to learn that RiverView’s community center—a common room required by the LIHTC program—would be named after her. Dave Brown, BSCHT board chair, also presented a plaque honoring Seyfang’s “unwavering vision in the creation of the RiverView Apartments and her commitment to forming the Big Sky Community Housing Trust.”
“It’s unbelievable to see this come to fruition and see the families that have been able to move in here. Makes me really thrilled,” Seyfang said.
Brown said Seyfang’s dedication and vision is “incredible.” When RiverView was just an idea, Brown was a new board member. He was not alone in questioning the viability of apartments along a thin strip of roadside land.
“It was amazing to watch, in just these past four years, the community coming together to solve a very challenging problem,” Brown said.
He praised the housing trust’s MeadowView campus, and its Rent Local and Good Deeds programs. But he said Big Sky’s workforce needs more than 1,300 additional homes by 2028, and that since 2015, the community has lost more than 85% of its long-term rentals.
“Without appropriate housing,” Brown said, “what do we have?”
