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Articles written by Justin Franz


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  • Maryland hospitality company buys Chico Hot Springs for $33 million

    Justin Franz, Montana Free Press|Aug 10, 2023

    DiamondRock Hospitality Company announced Wednesday that it has purchased Chico Hot Springs Resort in the Paradise Valley for $33 million. The Maryland-based hospitality company owns 35 hotels and resorts in 13 states and the District of Columbia. Chico is its first acquisition in Montana or the broader Pacific Northwest. The 117-room resort and adjacent ranch sit on a combined 748 acres at the base of Emigrant Peak, not far from the northern entrance of Yellowstone National Park. “Chico Hot Springs Resort is another example of D...

  • 27 years after arrest, Ted Kaczynski still holds Montana's - and the nation's -attention

    Justin Franz, Montana Free Press|Jun 29, 2023

    Dave Shors remembers April 3, 1996, beginning like any other day in the newsroom of Helena’s Independent Record. But not long after the work day began, a bit of news trickled in: agents with the Federal Bureau of Investigation were staking out a cabin near Lincoln. Shors, then an associate editor at the newspaper, sent a reporter and a photographer an hour north to check it out. As the day wore on, a rumor began to spread around town: The feds had the Unabomber in their sights. ...

  • Following acquisitions in Essex and Missoula, company sees opportunity in Montana

    Justin Franz|Apr 20, 2023

    Officials with the Washington-based hospitality company that purchased the historic Izaak Walton Inn near Glacier National Park in December say their company is growing rapidly and they see big opportunities in Montana in the years ahead. In fact, just weeks after LOGE Camps sealed the deal on the Izaak Walton in Essex, it purchased a second Montana property, the old Mountain Valley Inn near downtown Missoula, which it plans to renovate and reopen this fall. LOGE (pronounced “Lodge” and standing...