Disappearing Prairie
Prairie Avenue’s namesake prairies continue to disappear.
The 30-acre field north of Prairie Avenue, between Prairie Shopping Center and Woodland Meadows residential subdivision, is being planned as a multi-use development by Merritt Brothers Lumber Co., the owners, with Welch-Comer Engineering of Coeur d’Alene and Jack Beebe, agent for Coldwell Banker Schneidmiller Real Estate.
The parcel is the last remaining undeveloped portion of the former Lochhaven Farm, a Black Angus cattle ranch once owned by Charles Finucane, who was assistant secretary of defense in the Eisenhower administration in the 1950s. Finucane reportedly gained wealth through the sale of land that became the Farragut Naval Base. Earlier his Hayden area property was owned by the Clark Mansion of Hayden Lake.
Bordered by Honeysuckle and Prairie avenues, Government Way and Woodland Meadows, developers plan for retail and office commercial uses and multi-family residential sites. Beebe said a site plan, due in about 30 days, includes city-sized streets and tree-lined walkways.
The first building would be a 3,500-square-foot branch for Washington Trust Bank. The facility, to open in January, will include drive-up lanes, a 24-hour ATM and house seven employees, said Parker Woodall, president of the bank’s North Idaho region.
Although many spaces in downtown Coeur d’Alene remain empty, the Old City Hall isn’t among them. The 21,000-square-foot building at 424 Sherman is filling with tenants this summer, said Realtor Rich McKernan of Coldwell Banker Schneidmiller Realty.
This weekend, David Bro is moving his Bro-Net Inc., Internet development company into the ground level of the historic four-story building.
Using local markets that target local customers, Bro said his company builds Internet communities that focus on general consumers, entertainment and college and high school students.
A graduate of Coeur d’Alene High School and Western Montana College, Bro has been in the marketing and advertising business for 27 years. He is looking to sub-lease the right-front portion of his space. Phone 676-8847. Crickets Restaurant also has a portion of the ground floor.
Hatch Mueller Planning & Design Consultants is a new landscape architecture business on the first level of the turn-of-the-century building, which first was the Coeur d’Alene City Hall and Fire Department and later became the first location of North Idaho College.
All four architects of the firm are Idaho natives, graduates of the University of Idaho and former employees of Architects West in Coeur d’Alene. Past projects include Lake City High School, Woodland Middle School, Harbor Center, Harbor Plaza, the Centennial Trail and the Ramsey Park ballfields.
A new project is the 74-acre John Stone development between Northwest Boulevard and the Spokane River. This would include multi-use commercial (professional and retail spaces), residential condominiums and the rerouting of the Centennial Trail along the river, rather than on the busy thoroughfare.
Jonathon Mueller is a Coeur d’Alene native, Dell Hatch is from Sandpoint, Steve Davidson is from Moscow and Dale Gephart is from Nez Perce. Mueller and Hatch have a combined 40 years’ experience in the business.
Also on the first floor of Old City Hall are Gary Hoffman of Quest, an executive search firm, bond agent Michael Morgan and Dean Ledger of Universal Display.
The Nature Conservancy moved from the first to the second floor and is joined by Attorney John F. Magnuson, Ridolfi Engineers and The Matrix Group. Space was gained on the second floor when the KXLY News Group moved across the street to the former Wells Fargo Building. Third floor occupants are The Coeur d’Alene Tribe and the law offices of Givens, Funke and Work.
Pizza from dough made fresh daily, sub sandwiches, spaghetti and meatballs and seven flavors of ice cream are the specialties of Pig Out-Take Out, now open in Lakeland Square in Rathdrum.
Located across from Lakeland Junior High School, the new business offers take-and-bake or dine-in pizza. Hours are 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. Mondays through Saturdays.
Owners of the family-run business are Dennis and Leslee Shipp, who came to Hauser Lake 10 years ago from Redding, Calif. She originally is from Glen Ellyn, Ill., and he is from Concord, Calif.
Free hot dogs and a hoop-shoot contest will highlight Pig Out-Take Out’s grand opening Saturday. Phone 687-5559.