St. Vincent’s courthouse plan approved in CdA

Coeur d’Alene’s downtown federal courthouse could house a homeless center, antique store, art gallery and coffee shop in about two years under a recently approved proposal from St. Vincent de Paul.

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services gave the nod to St. Vincent in a letter Executive Director Lynn Peterson received Monday.

The homeless services center will join with several other groups to fill the 1928 building once the courthouse moves to a new facility on Hanley Avenue and U.S. Highway 95, which the federal agency overseeing the building said could take about two years.

Under federal law, homeless services groups have the first option on vacated federal buildings such as the courthouse.

“If you saw our proposal, you would see why we got it,” Peterson said. “We’ll keep it real nice.”

The approved proposal calls for an art gallery and coffee shop in the first floor courtroom with a day center for homeless people in the second floor courtroom. The art gallery would include a space for children’s art activities, such as the agency’s “Art on the Edge” program, and feature work from local artists and St. Vincent clients. Clients could also work in the coffee shop to hone their job skills. An upscale antique store operated by St. Vincent would sit between that space and the front desk area. The rest of the building would house offices for St. Vincent and other agencies like the women’s center and the Dirne Community Health Center.

Tenancy comes with stringent requirements because of the building’s historic nature. St. Vincent had to show it could make good use of the space – more than 20,000 square feet at Fourth Street and Lakeside Avenue – but keep the interior and exterior largely unchanged. The building has been on the National Register of Historic Places for 30 years.

The city of Coeur d’Alene and its urban renewal agency want to build a parking garage and mixed-use office center on other parts of the block, which is considered a key piece of land in downtown, said Tony Berns, executive director of the Lake City Development Corp.

“We know as Coeur d’Alene continues to grow we’ll need some kind of parking,” he said. “We’ll partner with anybody in that facility to the betterment of that block.

“I know it will not be an inexpensive building to maintain.”

St. Vincent’s clients – who are asked to volunteer with the agency in exchange for services – will help with building upkeep, Peterson said.

The extra space won’t expand St. Vincent’s services much, but it’ll give the agency some breathing room, Peterson said.

“I am retiring soon, and I wouldn’t want anyone to have to work in that fishbowl,” she said, referring to her cramped office space in the agency’s thrift store on Government Way. “As we grew, it just became necessary that the next person has got to have an office.”

John McLeod, of the Coeur d’Alene Downtown Association, said he didn’t know St. Vincent had been awarded the building until contacted by a reporter Tuesday. He referred questions to association manager Terry Cooper, who was unavailable.

Peterson said anyone with concerns about homeless services moving to the tourist-driven downtown area have misconceptions about the homeless.

“I feel bad that people watch too much TV and associate (the homeless) with the way some of them look on TV,” Peterson said. “They don’t look like that – they look like you and me.”