New auto body and paint shop rises on Helena’s Lyndale corridor

Helena’s Lyndale corridor is getting a new auto body and paint shop at 1000 E. Lyndale Ave., where city records show JMPD Enterprises Body and Paint Shop won approval for a 29,289-square-foot project valued at $2,022,827.04. The permit, issued Jan. 20 after a Jan. 2 filing date, covers more than a simple remodel. It includes demolition of a pole structure, renovation to a wood frame building, a PEMB addition, stormwater mitigation and emergency access work.

The project has been in motion for months. At a Feb. 3, 2025 pre-application meeting, Helena Body & Paint described plans for a partial demolition, addition and remodel of an existing building supply property into a new autobody shop. The proposal called for access from E. Lyndale Ave. on the south, National Ave. on the west and Dodge Ave. on the east, a layout that will shape how vehicles move in and out of the site once the shop opens.

By May 6, 2025, the applicant, CWG Architects on behalf of Helena Body and Paint, was asking the city Board of Adjustment for variances tied to the property’s CLM zoning. The request sought to reduce the front setback from 15 feet to 0 feet and to allow 13 required parking spaces to sit more than 35 feet from a tree. City documents described the parcel as vacant commercial structures with a former use as Construction Material Sales, specifically Builders FirstSource, and listed the proposed future use as Vehicle Services for Helena Body and Paint.

The location sits inside the Railroad Urban Renewal District, which the city says was established in 2016 and stretches roughly from North Last Chance Gulch east to Interstate I-15. That district has been a focus of redevelopment and transportation changes along the rail corridor, where commercial and light industrial uses have long been reshaping property along the city’s east-west spine.

The Lyndale project also lands near another major transportation plan. In January 2025, Helena said a $3.2 million Railroad Crossing Elimination Program grant would include design work for a roundabout at Montana Avenue, Helena Avenue and E. Lyndale Avenue, with the effort tied to BNSF Railway, the Montana Department of Transportation and the U.S. Department of Transportation. Together, those projects point to a corridor where traffic patterns, access and property use are changing block by block.