"Our first focus is a local business that services the greater residential neighborhood and the university, and fills the big void left by Joe's," Todd Waller told the Bozeman Daily Chronicle in September. A month after Joe's Parkway Market closed, that void is still there. So is the asphalt outside it. The City of Bozeman finished its construction plans for this stretch of College Street in June and then chose not to build them this summer.
So the three blocks between South 8th and South 11th are on hold in two ways at once. Over the next few months a new owner will decide what goes into the building, and the city will decide whether the street gets torn up in 2027. One part of the plan has already changed. Last fall's argument over parking was settled in January with a plan that keeps the spaces.
A 1969 Storefront With a New Owner and No Tenant Yet
Joe's opened in 1969. For almost six decades it served the historic blocks of south Bozeman and the Montana State students and faculty just across College Street. People went there for things a big grocery store doesn't stock: hard-to-find cheeses, meats and sauces, the seasoned prime rib, the wine wall, charcuterie boards and holiday gift baskets. KBZK reported the closure on August 27. The store held a customer appreciation day and closeout sale on September 16 and shut its doors in early October.
The Wantulok family sold the land, the building and the business to Waller, who founded Venture West Development and studied at MSU in the late 1990s. He told the Chronicle he wants to renovate the building, add onto it and create commercial space for more retailers, all while keeping its role as a neighborhood store. He said a market is his first choice, "something similar to Joe's, just kind of the next generation of it." He is starting with local operators and would look at a regional market if none of them fits. No tenant has been announced.
The scale of what he's planning matters. Venture West's other local work includes The Foundry, also known as Jackrabbit Crossing, a Belgrade project with a new Rosauers grocery store. On College Street he's talking about an addition with more storefronts, which goes well beyond swapping one sign for another. Tara Wantulok, who owned Joe's, said the whole three-block strip "needs a little bit of love." The strip is getting a new street design and possibly an expanded anchor building at roughly the same time.
A Short Street That Carries a Lot
From 8th to 11th, College Street runs only about 900 feet. In that distance the city counts 13 driveways, five alley and street intersections, about three dozen on-street parking spaces and roughly 8,200 vehicles a day, according to transportation director Nick Ross as reported by the Chronicle. Ross called it a lot of "frogger action." City video showed more people crossing mid-block than at the corners.
The design responds to that footage. It calls for a rebuilt sidewalk on the north side, fewer driveway cuts worked out with the businesses, and a mid-block crosswalk with a beacon between 9th and 10th. Ross explained why it goes there:
"The location of the mid-block crossing between 9th and 10th serves to support the natural desire line of people moving between those areas, while also functioning as a really really helpful traffic calming feature."
In an earlier story on the project, the Chronicle reported that the project's funding was expected to come entirely from the city's arterial and collector district funds, with no contribution from MSU.
The Plan Has Changed Three Times
If you last followed this project at an open house, you're probably remembering an earlier version. Here is how it changed:
- July 2025. A consultant memo recommended removing 25 parking spaces on the south side, adding a raised mid-block crosswalk with a rapid-flashing beacon, and building a mini-roundabout at 8th and College.
- October 2025. The City Commission held a work session on the project. According to the Chronicle's coverage, the roundabout had been dropped, and Ross shared one comment from the open house: "No roundabout, no way." The plan at that point still removed 24 south-side spaces to make room for a shared-use path next to the dorms, and business owners on the strip spoke against losing that parking.
- November 2025. Commissioners told staff to try keeping the south-side parking by widening onto university land, and MSU agreed to consider it.
- January 2026. The city said MSU was expected to grant an easement along the south curb. That would keep the parking and still extend the shared-use path from the west.
- June 2026. Final construction plans were finished and posted. Bidding and construction were put off.
In January the plan that removed 24 parking spaces was replaced by one that keeps them and moves the path onto campus land. The city's own wording called the easement "expected," so the curb along the dorms is the detail to watch when construction bids go out.
Why the Street and the Building Are on the Same Clock
The city gave its reason for waiting. It was "still coordinating final construction easements and access with business owners." Doing the work while classes were in session, with more people walking past the shops, would have caused more disruption and risked leaving the job unfinished when the construction season ended. The city's next step is to decide over the winter whether it can schedule construction next summer "in a manner that can be effectively coordinated with the Kagy Boulevard construction closure."
That makes 2027 the year for both projects. College and Kagy are the two streets that carry most of the traffic in and out of the MSU area. If the city schedules them together, the disruption overlaps. If it staggers them, the work stretches out longer. Either way, the decision is due before spring.
Meanwhile the Joe's lot is waiting for a tenant on a block whose sidewalk, driveways and crosswalk are about to be rebuilt. Anyone opening a store there, whether a market or something else, will be planning a launch around a construction schedule that hasn't been set. Driveway access and construction easements with the businesses are the same issues the city named as its reason for waiting.
Who's Still Serving on the Block
The rest of the strip is still open.
- Pickle Barrel, 809 W. College. The Olson family acquired Pickle Barrel in 1974. Jenny O'Brien started working there in 2002 and took over the Bozeman shop in 2014. The Chronicle covered its 50th anniversary party at the Rialto.
- Colombo's Pizza & Pasta, 1003 W. College. It makes its breads, soups, sauces and pizza dough from scratch. It also hosts trivia and bingo nights.
- The Exxon station on College. It's the strip's fuel stop.
With Thanksgiving three weeks away, the Joe's shelves are the hardest thing to replace. The nearest full grocery is Town & Country Foods at 1611 S. 11th Ave. Its meat department takes special orders. Daniels Gourmet Meats & Sausages, at 520 W. Griffin Dr., lists prime rib and rib roasts for pickup and takes orders by email or phone. For cheese and charcuterie, Mavens Market at 720 W. Main St. carries more than 100 fresh-cut cheeses. None of them has posted 2026 holiday order deadlines, so it's best to call early. A holiday roast is a busy order for any meat counter.
The city's College St Renovation 8th to 11th page is where the construction decision will be posted. It was last updated October 2. The next decision on the Joe's building belongs to its new owner.
Wondering how a rebuilt College Street or a new anchor at the old Joe's could affect a home in south Bozeman's historic blocks? Platinum Properties brings builder-level judgment to what corridor projects like this one mean for a property's value. Schedule a private consultation.
