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Dozens of Apartment Tenants Must Leave as Benefis Health System Continues to Expand

By KFBB News Team

Story Created: Mar 18, 2010 at 5:42 PM MST

Story Updated: Mar 18, 2010 at 5:48 PM MST

Dozens of tenants living in an apartment building near Benefis are being told they need to pack up and leave by June. The hospital says it has plans to turn the old apartment building into a parking lot.

Larissa Van Setten is one of about 50 people at the Garden Court Apartments at the corner of 25th Street South and 12th Avenue South that received a letter detailing the termination of their rental agreement. Van Setten says, "We had heard rumors it was going to happen but we didn't know it was going to be so soon so it was pretty hard."

Van Setten moved from Fairfield to Great Falls eight months ago and chose the apartment complex, so she could be closer to work. Van Setten says, "It did take quite a bit of looking to find this place. And with all of these people looking for apartments, I think it's going to be pretty slim pickings."

Parking at Benefis has been an issue ever since the hospital started expanding a few years back. A new tower opened last year, the orthopedic center opened earlier this month and plans for a new medical building are already underway.

Van Setten notes, "When I do go visit at the hospital, it's hard to find parking. There's not much, but at the same time I don't want them to tear down my house."

Dorothy Steichen has been living in the apartment complex for two years and says it will be difficult for her to find a new apartment because of her old age. She says, "We have to have something on the ground floor. That's why we're here. And they're hard to find, we may not find anything."

But some are taking the news easier than others. For Derek Faulkenhagen who has been living in the apartment complex for the past three year, the termination is giving him that extra push to buy a home. In fact, today he was pre-approved for a loan. Faulkenhagen says, "I knew it was coming. I figured I was tired of renting. It's time to get out on my own and buy a house."

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