Instead, his motivation was to stave off would-be developers from doing anything that would hurt the historic brick apartment building next door, which he owns and was designed in 1908 by famed Missoula architect A.J. Gibson.
The structure, he said, is a marvel, not only aesthetically but structurally.
Generally known as the University Apartments, Gibson's building was lovely when it opened all those decades ago, and is still lovely - if a bit worn - today.
Hardwood floors, built-in china cabinets, beveled glass, and bay windows are just some of the elegant touches that make the building special. Even its facade - layered with richly colored brick and assembled with unexpected design details - is remarkable.
Hefty's purchase of the vacant corner lot on the building's backside helped solve one conundrum, but it created another.
What to do with the land?
Because of his own career demands, Hefty didn't have much time to focus his creative energies on the triangular piece of turf. But periodically, the question would tumble into his consciousness, and he would find himself walking up and down the lot at strange hours.
Ideas came and ideas went with the years.
Eventually, his musings gave way to a vision: a triangle-shaped building for a triangle-shaped lot. A “flatiron building” for Missoula - a signature building to define the end of the Hip Strip commercial district and the beginning of Missoula's oldest neighborhoods.
Hefty set his sights on a 21st century building that would be environmentally conscious and modern, yet in keeping with Gibson's historic architectural legacy.
Rafael Chacon is eagerly watching Hefty's project unfold the way the rest of us might watch the final scenes of a thriller.
With each day of construction, with each new pillar of steel rising from behind the fencing that keeps most of the project a mystery - and the many passers-by safe from welding sparks and other such hazards - a significant and long-delayed chapter in Missoula's history is coming to a close, and an old battle is one step closer to resolution.
“That intersection between Brooks and Higgins was ground zero for the urban wars in the late 19th century, because that's where the slant streets met the regular north-south grid,” explained Chacon, a University of Montana art historian whose book on Gibson will be published next spring.
“The development of those neighborhoods was so different and looked so different because they were developed by two competing factions in Missoula,” he said. “The slant streets belonged to developers named Stephens, Bickford and Hammond, and the north-south belonged to C.P. Higgins, Judge Knowles and other founding fathers - all of whom were rivals for developing the south side of Missoula.
“Where that triangle comes together is the corner where the two districts come together - where Stephens and company proposed the start of a whole new, separate town with its own downtown oriented to the Bitterroot - and where Higgins and Knowles wanted that part of Higgins to be a major corridor for Missoula's expanding downtown.
“The reason the triangle is so important is the location is the defining spot for the first wave of development south of the river.”
A.J. Gibson, the man whose building bravely homed in on that sharp point, waded into the Missoula melodrama by siding with Higgins and Knowles, and ultimately helped them win the battle of the streets, Chacon said.
Gibson was the leading architect of the day, and with the exception of the University Apartments, he never collaborated with projects in the slant street neighborhood because his friends were developing Higgins Avenue.
Gibson only agreed to do the apartment project because it bordered Higgins Avenue, Chacon said.
Today, most people see the apartment building as a quaint old building, but in its day, it was considered very modern and had a forward-thinking shape, a shape more commonly adopted in the 1920s.
How Hefty's new project merges with Gibson's remains to be seen. But Chacon said he is optimistic it will be the right ending of the age-old turf wars: It will literally embrace both sides.
“There is always tension when you try to bridge 100 years of architectural design,” Chacon said. “Eric's challenge is that he has to add a new building in contemporary language with contemporary materials to meet the needs next door and to have a building that will take us into the next century. That's the big dilemma.
“Eric has done this before with the Gibson building across the street - Hellgate High School - and it is clear he is very sensitive to the way materials flow into each other.
“I believe there will be a nice dialogue between the old building and the new one,” he said. “What looks especially promising to me is that he is allowing breathing space between the two. He's not building right up against the Gibson apartment.
“Instead, he's exposing the back side of the apartment, which is very modernist and reads like a modernist shape.”
“The Corner,” as it's now called, is going to be a thing of wonder when it is completed in May.
For certain, its unique triangular, maybe even trapezoidal shape will make it a first for Missoula. That it will have both retail space and residential space will make it one of the few mixed-use buildings in the city, said Philip Maechling, historic preservation officer for Missoula's Office of Planning and Grants.
Hefty and his wife, Cheryl, want to give Missoula a building that honors the past, but is modern and represents the times in which we live.
The new, Cheryl Hefty said, is largely on the outside, while the building's old is largely on the inside.
The new structure will cost around $2.5 million, be three stories tall - the same height as Hellgate High - and have an underground parking garage.
The building's facade will be of corten steel which turns a rich rusty brick color as it ages, and which is intended to complement Gibson's brick apartments next door, Eric Hefty said. To further connect the two buildings - at least in spirit - the scale and size of the new building's windows will echo the scale and size of the Gibson building.
Retail space will be on the main floor of The Corner, and each store will open onto a carefully designed outdoor plaza intended to be an urban “pocket park,” made welcoming with lots of plants and greenery, good lighting and a statue of a bronze cow.
Above the retail space will be eight condominiums, only three of which are still for sale. All the top-floor condos have an unobstructed eagle's-eye view of Missoula and its mountain-ringed horizons, as well as access to the “green” roof which will be covered with six inches of topsoil - enough to grow grass and flowers.
Among the building's other “green” highlights are a cooling system that uses circulated groundwater and not electricity, and radiant floor heating for the outdoor plaza so snow melts off quickly. Reflective canopies will bounce natural light into retail spaces and will trim electric bills for shop owners, and the state's first Kone Eco-Space electrical elevator, which is two times as efficient as a traditional hydraulic elevator, will ferry residents up and down.
Inside, the building will have more than echoes of old Montana; parts of it will, in fact, be old Montana.
For the past two decades, the Heftys have stashed and stowed old wood no one else wanted - most of which came from remodeling and demolition projects, such as Sentinel High School's old bleachers and an ancient Hamilton barn that was torn down.
Over time, they amassed enough wood to put in all of the building's floors, ceilings, trim and doors.
On slower construction days, Eric Hefty wades through his stockpiles, pulling out pieces that need to be planed and sanded. He inspects each piece and considers where it will find its place in the project.
When the building is completed, he and Cheryl will live in one of the top-floor condominiums, and because his neighbors will also be his clients and tenants, he is taking extra precautions that every nook and cranny is thought-out and near to perfect as can be.
Smiling, he said: “If I don't, I'll have a lot of people to answer to.”
Because the lot is bordered by two of Missoula's major streets the construction process is extra-challenging.
Moving heavy equipment on and off the 8,000-square-foot lot is a delicate dance with the traffic lights, Hefty said.
The work of the day must be planned far in advance, so hauling in the building's steel beams or concrete can be done with a green light. Big moving days are often scheduled for early hours, long before commuters are pouring their first cup of coffee.
“Everything we do is staged, mostly because we can't store much on the site,” Hefty explained.
“The site is challenging and it dictated the shape, which is not efficient economically. I don't know many developers who develop triangular lots, but it sure is a lot more interesting and it's fun to do,” he said. “I think because of the constraints, it has focused our efforts in a specific way, and it's a better building because of it.”
Nearly every waking moment for the Heftys is dedicated to the project.
Cheryl Hefty is in charge of designing and orchestrating the building's interior, and Eric Hefty is in charge of making his vision a reality.
It's far more than a business venture, it's an artistic dream - and perhaps - the biggest risk he and his wife have ever taken.
Buying the lot was an extraordinarily large step for the couple at the time, Hefty said. Now, their talent and skill will be displayed on the corner for all to see - they hope for 100 years or more.
“I'm realizing now that my life is more than just buildings,” Hefty said. “As a Christian, I try to do my best at whatever I do. There is a lot of historical precedent for that. There are a lot of historically famous artists, scientists, writers all who had a strong religious belief and did their best and left us memorable work.”
“I believe if you have a gift, you should use it to the best of your ability,” he said. “This work is my gift. I can't sing or play the piano, there's a lot I can't do but I can do this.
“My hope is that it will be a catalyst for other good development in Missoula. I hope it raises the bar for others.”
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