Huckleberries Online

Midtown: Next Target For Renewal

Posted by DFO

Feb. 9, 2009 8:22 a.m. • 9 comments

Item: Meandering midtown: Business owners hope redevelopment will make things easier on shoppers/Patrick O’Brien, CDA Press

More Info: Long an important city thoroughfare, and once a thriving shopping district, midtown is slated for a major retrofit. This spring (a more definitive date has not been set), the city will begin work on the Fourth Street overlay. Later this summer — contingent upon the economy — construction could begin on a two- to three-story condominium unit that would cater to the workforce. While major redevelopment will never appease the entirety of the public, even given the economic doldrums, citizens seem acquiescent, as long as the project retains the flavor of the central neighborhood.

Question: When did you last stop at a Midtown business that wasn’t named Capones?

Nine comments on this post so far. Add yours!

Kibby on February 09 at 9:00 a.m.
I love to stop in at Paris Flea Market. They have great home decor, some old, some not so old, but all very well priced. I’m excited about the changes coming to the Midtown area and hope that the old town flavor will not be lost in all the remodeling.
Transplanted_Texan on February 09 at 9:48 a.m.
I liked Coffeeville, until they closed it and it became Bistro on Spruce. Whatever.
OrangeTV on February 09 at 3:37 p.m.
Midtown/4th Street Hot Spots:

Idaho Youth Ranch Thrift Store.
Women’s Shelter Thrift Store.
Humane Society Thrift Store.
Goodwill.
Thriftique.
Hospice thrift Store

(I make the midtown thrift rounds - plus St. Vinny’s - at least every two weeks.)

Inkworld (for piercings,no tats- yet. plus, my sis co-owns it so rah rah rah.)
The Office Bar & Grill (deep-fried heaven)
Pawn One (for cheap DVDs)
Pilgrims Foods (now twice the excitement.also, best hummus wrap on Earth.)
Safeway (does it count? sure, why not. a daily haunt)
Mexican Food Factory (OH YES!)
English Funeral Home (not a fun party place, but my extended family owns it, so rah rah rah.)
The Bookworm (treasures DO lie among the endless romance novels.)
Breakfast Nook (OH YES YES!)
Coeur D Alene Sewing & Vacuum Center (the only place that sells my weird kinda bag.)
US Bank (drive-thru action)
King Pizza (delivered for them when I was 19)
Corner Bar (always hopping, even at 10 AM. Love Marj’s karaoke)

Wow! Midtown is pretty darn groovy and I’m anxious to see all the improvements…
JIMMYMAC on February 09 at 5:11 p.m.
love me some Bistro on Spruce, Breakfast Nook and Syringa, of course!
JohnA on February 09 at 5:26 p.m.
I was at English Funeral Chapel once. Didn’t like it, knew it was a grave mistake right away. Kinda dead in there, everyone acting rather stiff. It will take a major undertaking I believe to turn that place into something I would recommend.

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D.F. Oliveria is a columnist and blogger for The Spokesman-Review. Huckleberries Online was judged the best 2008 Idaho newspaper blog by the Idaho Press Club. And the best 2007 news blog in the Pacific Northwest by the Society for Professional Journalist. Print Huckleberries is a past winner of the Herb Caen Memorial Column contest by the National Association of Newspaper Columnists. The Readership Institute of Northwestern University cited this blog as a good example of online community journalism.