City Brew anchors growing commercial hub near Costco in Helena

The wood-framed City Brew going up near Costco is only the first visible piece of a much larger commercial buildout at Cromwell Dixon Lane and Washington Street. The coffee shop will be City Brew’s fourth Helena location, joining existing stores on North Montana Avenue and Prospect Avenue, while city filings show a VA dental clinic, a Blue Cow Car Wash and a three-story Independence Bank building are also moving into the same area.

The strongest signal comes from the VA project at 2120 Skyway Dr., where the March 16, 2026 pre-application agenda lists Morrison-Maierle as the applicant for a new Department of Veterans Affairs dental clinic. Project materials say Morrison-Maierle and Boulder Associates are partnering with the Avens Group to develop about two acres of Remainder Lease Lot D-2, east of the Independence Bank property, for a clinic of about 11,400 square feet with a valuation of roughly $4 million. The site is zoned B-2, and the project is still working through Helena’s building review process.

Access and utilities show how closely the projects are being tied together. City materials say the clinic would use a shared access road west of the Independence Bank site to reach Skyway Drive, along with a roadway extension from the North Washington Street east-west connection. The same filing says utility extensions would come from Cromwell Dixon Lane, and the shared drainage pond serving the car wash and bank site would be enlarged to handle runoff from the clinic parcel.

The Independence Bank piece is not just a placeholder on a map. A Helena Airport Board action on Aug. 19, 2025 approved a 1.25-acre non-aeronautical ground lease on the corner of Skyway Drive and Washington Street for Independence Bank, pending City of Helena concurrence. Independence Bank’s Helena page describes the market as a local location for personal, business and ag banking, which fits the commercial mix now concentrating around the Costco area.

Blue Cow Car Wash adds another repeat-use business to the corridor. Its Kalispell location advertises unlimited wash plans and free vacuums, a convenience-service model built for steady traffic and frequent returns. Put together with City Brew, the bank and the planned dental clinic, the cluster points to a spending pattern centered on everyday errands rather than a single destination stop.

For Helena, the practical effect is simple: more cars turning in and out of Skyway Drive and Washington Street, more activity around nearby parcels, and more of the city’s retail and service growth shifting toward the Costco anchor on the edge of town.