Investors buy former Coldwater Creek campus

A group of four investors has purchased the bulk of the former Coldwater Creek corporate campus in the city of Kootenai next to Sandpoint.

Lew Patrick, who owns Sandpoint Storage and Patrick Properties, formed the investment group, L3M LLC. The purchase from CWC Creditors’ Liquidating Trust was effective April 6. The price was not disclosed.

The group is renaming the 12-acre site on McGhee Road the Sandpoint Technology Center. It includes a main building with 120,000 square feet of office space and about 80,000 square feet of warehouse/distribution space, plus two other office buildings. The larger of those, with 17,000 square feet of office and warehouse space, is leased by Thorne Research, which develops hypoallergenic dietary supplements.

An adjoining 35,000-square-foot building that housed Coldwater Creek’s administrative offices was purchased one year ago by Litehouse Inc., which makes salad dressings, sauces and dips. Coldwater Creek, a national women’s retailer, went out of business last year.

Patrick said L3M is negotiating with Laughing Dog Brewing of Ponderay to move the brewery inside the main building. Two other unidentified companies in the area also are looking at leasing space there, he said.

The facility lends itself to a call center or data center, with redundant fiber-optic cable available, he said. It also contains an athletic facility with basketball and racquetball courts, fitness rooms and locker rooms, as well as a photography studio and an auditorium. The auditorium will be available for community events and meeting space, Patrick said.