'Truly transformational'
LOREN BENOIT/Press Construction on the collaborative education facility on the North Idaho College campus in Coeur d’Alene is expected to wrap up late next spring. The facility has been named the Bob and Leona DeArmond Building after they made the largest private donation in NIC’s 85-year history.
The collaborative education facility being built on the North Idaho College campus has been named the Bob and Leona DeArmond Building. It will be shared by NIC, the University of Idaho and Lewis-Clark State College. (Rendering courtesy of North Idaho College)
By BRIAN WALKER
Staff Writer
COEUR d'ALENE — Bob and Leona DeArmond’s name will be attached to North Idaho College forever.
The NIC Board of Trustees on Monday approved naming the college’s new 29,000-square-foot collaborative education building after the former Coeur d’Alene residents, who college officials say made the largest private donation in NIC’s 85-year history.
The building is under construction on River Avenue on the NIC campus, not far from the former site of the DeArmond Stud Mill, once owned by the DeArmond family.
To honor the DeArmonds’ wishes, the exact amount of their gift to the college through the NIC Foundation will remain confidential. However, the donation is more than $1 million, the amount of other private donations announced by NIC in recent years.
NIC President Rick MacLennan called the gift that will be used for college programs and student scholarships "truly transformational."
"This will extend our resources to help fulfill our mission to change students' lives," he said. "Their commitment is a tribute to the people of North Idaho, where the DeArmonds lived for nearly 30 years."
The stud mill, owned by Bob DeArmond and his brother, eventually merged with other companies to form Idaho Forest Industries, which later sold the mill to Stimson Lumber Company. The mill closed in 2008, and NIC purchased the land where it once stood to accommodate expansion of the college.
Bob retired as a lumber products company executive and entrepreneur of several successful businesses.
"He and Leona made it a priority to invest in education," said MacLennan, adding that they made other donations to NIC in recent years.
Rayelle Anderson, NIC's director of development and the foundation's executive director, said the college and foundation are honored to receive the gift.
"The trust that the DeArmond family has put in NIC to serve students and the community is remarkable," she said. "We will deliver."
Originally from Oregon, the DeArmonds moved to Coeur d'Alene in 1959. Bob returned to Oregon after Leona’s death. Anderson said on Monday that Bob was unavailable for comment.
Chris Martin, NIC vice president for finance and business affairs, told the trustees that the $7.5 million collaborative education building is still slated to open in June. Prior to naming the facility, it was referred to as the North Idaho Collaborative Education (NICE) building.
The state's Public Works Division will pay $3.5 million of the total. Other sources will include $2.3 million from ignite cda, Coeur d'Alene's urban renewal agency, and $666,667 each from NIC, the University of Idaho and Lewis-Clark State College.
The facility will include shared space for classrooms, student services and administrative support.
"The building will be the front door of our three colleges," Martin said.
MacLennan said NIC will collaborate with the other colleges to develop a secondary name for the building that describes what it is.