Post Falls High On Sale Of Mill Site Auction Of Former L-P Acreage A Potential Boon For Downtown

A prize piece of waterfront is on sale - a sale city officials and local businesses hope will revitalize downtown here.

The former Louisiana-Pacific Corp. mill site will go to the first buyer willing to pay $6.5 million for 32 acres in a closed auction.

Robert Templin, of Templin’s Resort Hotel, who owns seven acres north of the L-P property and Milltown, a collection of shops across the street from the site, said he will sell or develop his land in conjunction with the L-P sale.

“I would like to see a new downtown,” he said. “We’ll do anything to develop our properties to see that it’s done. It’s a golden opportunity.”

L-P divided the land into three tracts, all which must be sold at the same time, said Tim Reinertsen of Realty Marketing/Northwest in Bellevue, Wash., who is handling sale of the property.

Sale will be held by closed auction, with buyers submitting bids to the company before Nov. 12. And although this is the first price tag put on the land, “if someone were to submit an offer today, Louisiana-Pacific would give it consideration,” Reinertsen said.

The city designated the area perched above the Spokane River falls as part of the urban renewal downtown district that stretches from the 1,450 feet running along the falls east to Henry Street.

On Tuesday, the Post Falls City Council changed the area’s zoning from heavy industrial to commercial, paving the way for retailers to line Spokane Street and hoteliers to build resorts overlooking the falls.

“I think it will be a mixture of commercial, tourism and office development,” said Jerry Basler, city urban planner.

, DataTimes