Museum may have new home

The Post Falls Historical Society is closer to finding a new location for its museum.

After its meeting Wednesday and in discussions since then, the society is looking at locating in a 99-year-old house previously occupied by the Lindberg family, at Sixth Avenue and Frederick Street.

Before that can happen, though, the developers who own that land face a few hurdles. Chris Kreighbaum and Rod Beitz want to erect a 72-foot residential and commercial building east of the old house, but city rules limit the height for community commercial zones to 45 feet.

Kreighbaum and Beitz will meet with the Urban Renewal Agency at its next meeting on Thursday to see if the land can be included in the downtown district.

That is a possible solution because the agency and the city’s community development department recommended a few months ago that the design standards for the downtown district allow for increased height limits.

If they overcome this challenge, Kreighbaum and Beitz said they would donate the house to the historical society and give them a deal on the lease.

The other option is having a museum facility in Post Falls Landing, a new mixed-use development on the previous sawmill site along the Spokane River.

Though historical society members were enthusiastic about the Lindberg house option Wednesday evening, former President Kim Brown said on Friday that Post Falls Landing would be better because it’s closer to Treaty Rock and Falls Park, allowing for the possibility of a walking tour from the museum.

Brown said she intends to contact Landing owner Harry Green.

Green said he is open to talking to the society about including the museum on his property.

“I’d look forward to a discussion about how this might work out,” Green said.

The museum is currently in a house on Fourth Avenue, just south of City Hall, but it will need to move once Post Falls starts building its expanded City Hall complex in the near future.

The society has been searching for a permanent home for a year now, but wasn’t having any luck before now.

“We’re overjoyed someone has stepped up and offered us an option,” Brown said of the Lindberg house. With all the new growth and development, she added, “we can’t leave our history and our identity behind.”