Chinook Guard armory closing

The Montana Army National Guard facility in Chinook will be closed.

The facility for years served as an armory and a field maintenance shop, said Lt. Ryan Finnegan of the MANG headquarters in Helena. But the building hasn’t been used as an armory in at least a decade, he said. It

Its sole purpose is to do maintenance to Army equipment.

Four people work at the facility, he said. But by November, because of natural attrition, only two employees will remain by November. November is the earlier the building will close, he said. The exact timeline is being figured out..

The remaining employees and the work done at the facility will be parceled out to the other seven maintenance shops in the state, he said.

Finnegan said it would cost the state $250,000 to bring the building up to standards.

Once the building is vacated, he said, it will be put up for bid.

Interested local governments have first rights to bid on the building, Finnegan said.

If now local governments are interested, the general public is allowed to submit bids.