Innovation group eyes Elks building

COEUR d’ALENE — Nick Smoot, co-founder of the Innovation Collective, has made an offer to purchase the old Elks Club Athletic Center to house his new club, “The Collective.”

Smoot said he and his two partners have structured two separate offers to purchase the building, and he hopes to hear if either offer is accepted by the end of this week.

“We want to make it a key campus or facility of entrepreneurial activity and commercialization,” Smoot said Wednesday.

Smoot said the Innovation Collective has spun off a new private dues-paying club called “The Collective.” Members will have access to a variety of amenities downtown including a new cigar lounge at the Innovation Collective’s 410 Sherman co-work space.

If the sale goes through, Smoot said he plans to remodel the Elks building to include a small theater for films and presentations, a cafe and private office spaces for emerging high-tech companies.

Smoot said he is also working with North Idaho College to develop a new program that includes Gizmo, computer coding classes and business acceleration.

Smoot said the NIC facility will be a place for young entrepreneurs to build practical experience which they can take to the new facility at the Elks building to commercialize their product, skills or ideas.

The Elks building has sat empty for decades largely because there is not a sufficient amount of parking in the area to accommodate many commercial uses.

Smoot said he thinks he can get around the parking issues because he is not changing the building’s existing use.

“It used to be a social gathering place,” he said. “And that is what we want to keep it as, a social gathering place.”

Smoot said he has been told there is another party interested in the building, but he and his partners are pushing forward. He expects to hear something back from the Elks Club by Saturday.