Coeur d'Alene School District takes first step for potential sale of district office

COEUR d'ALENE — The Coeur d'Alene School District has taken the first step toward selling its district office.

Deputy Superintendent of Operations Seth Deniston presented an appraisal of the building during an executive session of the Coeur d'Alene School Board in September, which trustees voted to accept.

He said the district is keeping its eyes open for a different office, partly due to location.

The district moved into its current 21,500-square-foot building at 1400 Northwood Center Court when it bought the building for $2.2 million in early 2013. Administrative offices were previously housed at 311 N. 10th St. in a building about half the size.

“Clearly, we do not need to be on a prominent corner in the center of Coeur d’Alene," Deniston said in his presentation to the school board. "Also, if it makes financial sense to move to a similarly sized office space, we’ll bring that back to you for sure.” 

The appraisal was conducted by Valbridge Property Advisors. The value of the appraisal was not disclosed.

"Since we have to do sealed bids and open those bids at once, we can’t get in a bidding war, so for that reason, the appraisal’s not public information, because otherwise, every bid is that appraisal plus $1, right?” Trustee Heather Tenbrink said Monday during a meeting of the district's long-range planning committee.

“Some of these large numbers of people have been floating, it is not those, I will say that,” she said.

Superintendent Shon Hocker said as a government agency, the district has to go through a specific process to sell a building.

The process includes receiving sealed bids to establish a baseline for what the building is worth, he said. Then the district would go to bid if it decides to sell.

"You can only accept offers that are above that appraised baseline that somebody might give you as a government agency," he said.

Doing this lays the groundwork for a "what if?" scenario, he said. 

"What if the right opportunity came available where it was financially beneficial to the district to maybe sell the district office and buy something different that meets all of our needs, maybe plus some, and gives some extra money in the bank?" Hocker said.

The appraisal is good for one year.

“If we decide not to take any action or do anything within that year, we would have to do that over again as well to start another year,” Hocker said.

Deniston said in a Tuesday email to The Press the district began exploring options for the district office when Borah Elementary closed at the end of the 2023-24 school year. One idea was to repurpose the school for district office use.

A local expert estimates that remodeling part of Borah would cost between $1-$4 million, Deniston said.

"If we moved the district office to Borah, that building would no longer be available to use as a school, and the estimated cost to build a new elementary school is close to $20 million," he said.

At the conclusion of the investigation, the district administration recommended continuing to house district staff in the current building while keeping an eye on the commercial real estate market for other options.

    Deniston