Developer says demolition at Butte Plaza Mall to start in August, still mum on coming stores

Timelines have been pushed back but a developer said Tuesday he expects demolition of the former Herberger’s store at the Butte Plaza Mall to start in August to make room for a new grocery store.

Darren Dickerhoof told The Montana Standard he still isn’t ready to disclose the name of the grocery store chain that’s coming but said it will likely purchase its parcel soon so work can begin.

“The grocer still doesn’t want me to talk about who they are yet,” said Dickerhoof, indicating it should be soon.

He also said he and partner developers are “still not quite at a point to disclose” six or seven additional new stores coming as part of a big mall makeover “but we probably will be soon.”

“I’ve been saying that for a while but I do think we finally are just about there,” Dickerhoof said.

Butte-Silver Bow Planning Director Julia Crain said Tuesday she couldn’t name the businesses coming but the county will continue to support the project anyway it can.

Darren Dickerhoof, his brother Matt Dickerhoof, and Rich Carone are developers based in Corvallis, Oregon, who purchased the mall in May 2024 for $8.5 million from the Hyman Family Trust.

They pledged then to bring new life, new looks and new stores to the mall. Plans were to turn it inside out, making all stores face outward, and start with demolition of the old Herberger’s department store.

They said in May 2024 they would bring in a big-name grocery store and other nationally known tenants and Butte-Silver Bow officials say they’ve been talking to them. But developers have said little since May 2024.

J.P. Gallagher, Butte-Silver Bow’s chief executive, said early this year that demolition work was planned for February but that was pushed off until April.

The Montana Standard has reached out to the developers for months and finally got Darren Dickerhoof by phone on Tuesday.

He said current plans are to tear down about one-third of the mall, including Herberger’s, in August to make room for the coming grocery store.

“Then going into the fall, we need to shore up that end of the building,” he said.

Construction on the rest of the project will likely wait until next year.

“By the time we get things torn apart it will be going into the fall and winter and we don’t want to be doing a whole bunch of work when the weather starts getting really cold,” Dickerhoof said.

At some point in the near future, he said, the mall will be shut down for two to four weeks as part of other planned changes. Maurices and Riddle’s Jewelry will be moved to other parts of the building for six to nine months so they can stay open, he said.

Dickerhoof said Maurices will move to the space occupied by JOANN Fabric and Crafts before it closed and Riddle’s Jewelry will move into a space next to them.

“They will have an exterior entry so they can stay open this year but they won’t have (interior) mall access,” he said. “You’ll just park out in front and go into their store. But we’re working with them. In fact, we’re doing a call this afternoon.”

Like many retail developments, many coming tenants are secretive about their plans to keep competitors from knowing, Dickerhoof said.

Bottom line, the project is still much alive, he said.

“I think in August you’ll start to see work happening,” he said.