One Lakeside rising on site of Mudge Building
LOREN BENOIT/Press Coeur d’Alene firefighter Eric Paul bashes through a window to vent “smoke” during a recent training exercise at the Mudge Building at the intersection of Lakeside Avenue and First Street in downtown Coeur d’Alene.
Demolition of the Mudge Building — a brick structure on the corner of First Street and Lakeside Avenue in downtown Coeur d’Alene — is set for Tuesday.
Peck and Peck Excavating Inc. of Post Falls will raze the structure to make way for a long-awaited, 15-story, 170,000-square-foot downtown condominium complex that has been planned for years.
For the past several weeks, the Coeur d’Alene Fire Department used the vacant Mudge Building for firefighter training, Greg Peck said.
The property’s developer, One Lakeside LLC, which owns the 20,000-square-foot lot, filed a $419,000 permit with the city of Coeur d’Alene to build a $20 million structure that includes a recreational, club floor on the roof.
Since it was first proposed years ago, the building project had to overcome hurdles. Builders faced a lawsuit from neighbors who argued the proposed high rise would impede their view and cause their property values to plummet.
Property owners at the Coeur d’Alene North complex in 2013 filed a civil suit against One Lakeside LLC and the city, but the suit was dismissed two months later. They argued the proposed high rise would block views of Tubbs Hill, City Park, the lake and downtown.
They also accused the city of not adhering to a review process, but the court ruled the suit erroneous because the city had followed its own rules when it approved the project for construction.
Greg Hills, the Colorado-based developer behind the project told The Press that his company was prepared to alter the design of the building in an effort to block less of the view.
The latest design is one story taller than the original design, but it has fewer living spaces.
According to the city, the high-rise will use both the existing Mudge Building lot, as well as the parking lot it owns to the north.
The first three floors of the unit will include parking garages, retail and office space. The new construction will include long and short-term lease units.
Once completed, the One Lakeside building with its 15 floors would be the third-tallest building in Coeur d’Alene behind the 20-story Parkside Tower across from McEuen Park, and The Coeur d’Alene Resort’s 18-story hotel.