Handle on Business:New Chamber building will suit CdA well
The new visitor center of the Coeur d’Alene Chamber of Commerce couldn’t be in a better location. Now under construction, the 11,500-square-foot facility is on the triangular parcel surrounded by First Street, Lakeside Avenue and Northwest Boulevard at the west entry to downtown.
Facing Lake Coeur d’Alene’s Independence Point, the structure reflects a combination of Northwest and nautical themes with a rounded, concrete exterior filled with wood-framed glass and covered with a gradual central peak. Architects are Rann Haight and Roy Moore, and CNI is the builder.
The main floor will include a conference center, meeting rooms and offices of the Chamber of Commerce, CdA Downtown Association, the CdA Arts and Culture Alliance and Lake City Development Corp. Jonathan Coe, chamber president and general manager, said about 15 employees will occupy that level.
The half-daylight lower level will have storage space and 2,000 square feet of leaseable space. Contact Jim Koon at Coldwell Banker Realty. The parcel will have limited outside parking, and the building may open by May.
An 8-foot, four-sided bronze sculpture called “Coeur” (French for heart) will feature a tipped heart-shaped opening large enough for people to stand inside with the lake in the background for photos. Rotary Club-commissioned artist Gerald Tsutakawa also sculpted the giant baseball mitt outside Safeco Field in Seattle.
The parcel originally was the home of Bill & Gar Anderson’s Texaco gas station and an American Oil bulk plant owned by Fred and Keith Kroetch. The bulk plant became the extension of Lakeside Avenue, and a muffler shop and car rental business occupied the Texaco building before it became the temporary quarters for the Chamber of Commerce, now on upper Third Street.
Post office outlets to open
Two new auxiliary post offices are realities in Coeur d’Alene and Dalton Gardens. The permanent locations offer all services and products handled by the main office in downtown Coeur d’Alene, except money orders. The office in the Do It Best hardware store on Fourth Street remains open.
Opening this week, the Dalton Gardens outlet is in the Kootenai Kids Teaching Supply store in Dalton Court minimall at 7352 Government Way. Hours are 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. weekdays and 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturdays. Phone (208) 762-7575.
The post office in the 50% Off Card Shop will open next week in Town Center at 101 Best Ave., Coeur d’Alene. Hours will be 9 a.m. to 8 p.m. weekdays and 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. Saturdays. Phone (208) 765-6723.
Quizno’s coming
A Quizno’s sandwich shop will open in February in the Highland Crossing Mall behind Del Taco off the intersection of Highway 41 and Mullan Road, Post Falls. It will be next to Thomas Hammer Coffee and in the same building as Verizon and the Pizza Factory.
Owners Tim Devine and John Cook will employ 12 to 15 people with hours of 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. daily. It will have inside and outside dining areas.
Originating in Denver in 1981, Quizno’s has more than 3,000 stores in all 50 states and 15 countries. It offers toasted sandwiches, soups, salads, chips, beverages, desserts, bread bowls, breakfast items, kids’ menus and catering. (Try the steakhouse beefdip sandwich.)
Tidbits
“More than 300 volunteers helped gather trash in the recent Tubbs Hill cleanup. Starbucks Coffee donated $1,000 to the Tubbs Hill Foundation and coffee for everyone. More interesting items among the discards were a wig, sleeping bag, a black-lace formal dress, condoms and a sign reading “I Love Mom.”
“The slang word “buck” for dollar originated from “buckskins,” deerskins that were exchanged in transactions with merchants in the mid-1800s. A “sawbuck” was equal to a $10 bill, on which the Roman numeral X resembled the crossbars on a sawbuck. The logs to be sawed were held in the upward-facing V’s of a pair of sawbucks.