The Depot Takes Advantage Of Lower-Cost Section Of Town

While much attention in Coeur d’Alene has focused on growth at the edge of town and the effort to keep downtown vibrant, little attention has been paid to the area between downtown and the periphery.

However, this area has some fantastic advantages. It doesn’t have the high-price profile and limited parking that plagues the downtown. And it doesn’t have the high land prices and need for added utilities and other infrastructure concerns of outlying areas.

Plus, the location is in the center of everything.

A quintet of businesses that like this situation now inhabit The Depot, a package of new buildings at 112 E. Hazel Ave., one block east of Government Way.

The owner-tenants are Nichols’ Guitars, IdaHomes, Vanguard Capital, Momentum Architecture and Hands-On Art Studio. Their open house, noon to 4 p.m. Saturday, will include entertainment by The Coeur d’Alene Marimba Band and Indigo and a sculpting demonstration by Leslie Jackson, a Coeur d’Alene winter visitor who teaches sculpture in Florence, Italy.

Nick Schilling builds, repairs and sells guitars at Nichols’ Guitars. Michael Morgan moved his Vanguard Capital investment and brokerage business from Ironwood Drive. Tim Wilson moved Momentum Architecture from his house to The Depot, and building contractors Al Scarth and Thomas Orjala have established their offices, workshop and warehouse in the new locale.

Most traffic should be generated by the Hands-On Art Studio, a contemporary ceramics and pottery facility that offers classes, workshops and artwork parties with limited retail sales of its products. Hands-On Studio owners are Barb Scarth, a former Lakes Middle School teacher who came to North Idaho 25 years ago from Hawaii, and Jan Meyer, who has owned The Bookseller in downtown Coeur d’Alene with her husband Steve for 20 years. Hands-On Studio hours are 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. Wednesdays through Saturdays and noon to 5 p.m. Sundays. Phone 667-6135 or 664-0683.

The Scarths and Schilling own the 6,000-square-foot complex, which is named The Depot because early this century it was the site of the Great Northern Railroad roundhouse. About 1,000 square feet of warehouse and storage space is available.

In Coeur d’Alene to inspect the progress of his 31st Eagle Hardware & Garden store Tuesday, owner Rich Takata said the new store still is on target to open in December.

Depending on sales volume, the store should employ 140-150 people full time and about 25 more part-timers.

“We think that’s essential to provide the level of service we require,” Takata said. The store is the company’s first in Idaho, but others are planned.

The new Eagle will be about 175,000 square feet, with “the box itself close to 100,000,” Takata said. The covered drive-through lumber yard will cover 60,000 square feet, and the garden center about 15,000.

Most of the employees are in place and being trained, stocking shelves and receiving goods, although the company “never quits taking applications,” according to Myron Hamilton, assistant manager.

Watch for an announcement Thursday that Dakotah Direct telemarketing company will occupy the prime-location First Security Bank building at Sherman Avenue and First Street in downtown Coeur d’Alene.

It’s not a surprise, though none of the principal movers in the plan has confirmed the rumor since it surfaced a few months ago - even though the company has been advertising for weeks that it is looking for employees in Coeur d’Alene, Liberty Lake and Spokane.

Dakotah Direct likely will hire more than 100 employees, a boost for the downtown economy. The facility includes 10,291 square feet of space on four levels with a prime view of Lake Coeur d’Alene. At the turn of the century the site held the Hotel Idaho. It later became the Dessert Hotel, which burned in 1972. The “new” building was constructed in 1977.

Some tidbits:

There are only a few days left to get your Marshall Mend Halloween mask. The Coeur d’Alene realtor claims the counterfeit masks are distinguishable from the real ones because they have hair.

Sen. Larry Craig’s office has moved from Fourth Street to Harbor Center. Wise guys say Craig had to find the “right” space because too many spaces are “left” in downtown Coeur d’Alene.

Craig and Margaret Langel of Missoula are owners of the Taco Bell being built in Post Falls. The manager will be Ken Langel.

, DataTimes The following fields overflowed: CREDIT = Nils Rosdahl The Spokesman-Review