Midtown project materializing
LOREN BENOIT/Press The ignite cda board has two new development proposals for midtown which include several multi-storied structures that feature both commercial and apartment spaces.
COEUR d’ALENE — A chunk of midtown property along Fourth Street, a dozen blocks from downtown Coeur d’Alene, will likely turn into a mixed-residential and retail complex.
Two new development proposals fielded last month by the ignite cda board would turn part of the block between Roosevelt and Boise avenues, adjacent to Fourth Street, into at least one multi-story structure featuring commercial space at street level and residential overhead.
Tony Berns, ignite cda’s executive director, said the proposals are being vetted. A committee will likely bring recommendations to the ignite board by March.
Ignite cda, the city’s urban renewal agency, owns part of the block, while John and Ann Beutler, who turned in one of the proposals, also own a portion of the block across the street from Capone’s.
The Beutler proposal includes two, three-story structures set apart by 4,300 square feet of public space. Each building would have 3,000 square feet of commercial space at ground level and 16 apartments on two stories.
The second proposal from DeChase Miksis, of Boise, includes a three-story multi-use building with 6,000 square feet of commercial property at street level with 21 apartments on the upper levels.
The ignite board formed an ad hoc committee to consider both plans, before bringing recommendations back to the board.
“These proposals need to be studied,” said Coeur d’Alene Mayor Steve Widmyer, one of ignite’s board members. “It’s good to see that we got two great proposals (but) there is a lot of information in there that needs to be further studied.”
After turning down offers for the midtown ignite cda property from local realtors, the agency opened up another call for proposals that closed last month, Berns said.
There is no deadline for the ad hoc committee to make a recommendation on the proposals, he said, although whichever project gets the green light must complete its work within three years, before the Lake District, ignite cda’s redevelopment district, expires in 2021.