Area investors buy former Coldwater Creek campus

KOOTENAI — One of the last — and largest — vestiges of Coldwater Creek has been sold.

L3M, LLC, a group of local investors, has purchased the 12-acre, 220,000-square-foot former Coldwater Creek campus at 130 McGhee Road in Kootenai for a reported $2.5 million.

The campus consists of three buildings. One is currently leased by Thorne Research, a local dietary supplement manufacturer. The second is a 3,600-square-foot building known as the “Chairman’s Building.”

The third building is 200,000 square feet and includes 120,000 square feet of office space, and 80,000 square feet of warehouse space. Inside the warehouse space are saunas, showers, basketball and racquetball courts, spa rooms, and other exercise spaces.

“A complete spa,” Lewis “Lew” Patrick, a local businessman and the driving force behind the purchase said. “It could be a private gym.”

L3M consists of Patrick, a local real estate investor; Dr. Mike Genoff, a retired hand surgeon; Dr. Lowell Fenwick of Percussionaire; and another investor group, BCL, that includes Braden Pollock, Clark Martin, and Luke Webster. L3M comes from Luke, Lowell, Lew and Mike.

“Three L’s and an M,” Patrick said.

Patrick has been a real estate investor since the mid-1980s. When Coldwater Creek declared bankruptcy last year, he saw an opportunity.

“When I saw the demise of Coldwater Creek … I looked at the real estate,” Patrick said. “I started chasing it last May.”

After some fits and starts with several bids submitted to the bankruptcy court, the groups efforts finally came to  fruition this month, when their most recent bid was accepted. The deal closed on April 6.

According to Patrick, several local businesses are interested in, or already committed to leasing space in the sprawling campus, including Laughing Dog Brewery and Percussionaire out of Sagle.

Patrick said the company is also currently in talks with outside investor, a call center company that could bring in between 300 to 500 employees, although he rated chances of that deal ending in a lease at “50-50.”

The facility includes a 220-seat auditorium with three break-out conference rooms that could accommodate company retreats and trade shows.