Chesrown to buy, redevelop two waterfront mill sites

Stimson Lumber Co. has reached a final agreement to sell two mill sites along the Spokane River to Black Rock Development.

The sale of the Atlas Mill site, which shut down in December, should be complete by spring 2007, the two parties said Wednesday. The sale of the DeArmond Mill, which is still operating, should be final by March 2009. About 135 people work at the DeArmond Mill.

The two mill sites include about 80 acres of Coeur d’Alene’s waterfront and 1 ½ miles of shoreline. A purchase price was not disclosed.

The land represents Coeur d’Alene’s last working waterfront.

Black Rock developer Marshall Chesrown plans to turn the Atlas mill site into a mixed-use development featuring shops, offices and housing. The site is located on Seltice Way, adjacent to another former mill site being redeveloped into offices and waterfront housing.

Part of the 17-acre DeArmond mill site on Northwest Boulevard is slated for a higher-education corridor, according to a press release. Chesrown is in discussions with the city of Coeur d’Alene and local colleges about how they might be part of the site’s redevelopment, the release said.

The mill lies north of North Idaho College, which wants to expand its campus. The higher-ed corridor would also involve local branches of University of Idaho and Lewis-Clark State College.

Neither the amount of land available for college expansion nor its cost has been determined, said NIC spokesman Kent Propst.

Chesrown announced a year ago that he was negotiating to buy the Stimson property. At the time, Stimson expected to build a new, state-of-the-art replacement mill in Hauser.

That didn’t turn out to be practical, Andrew Miller, Stimson’s chief executive officer, said in a prepared statement.

The company, based in Portland, will continue to operate mills in Priest River, Hauser and Plummer, Idaho, he said.