Fire's first anniversary bring promise of future

SANDPOINT — A year ago, dozens of firefighters from throughout the region were battling to bring a fire threatening the entire downtown Sandpoint under control.

Today, while an empty hole sits where the two buildings housing five active businesses used to anchor the southern end of First Avenue, signs of life are beginning to stir. The two properties recently sold and plans are beginning to shape up for a new building at the site.

The fire, reported just after 1 a.m. on Feb. 11, 2019, tore at the heart of the city’s historic district and prompted an all-out response from firefighters from Selkirk Fire Rescue & EMS and fire district throughout Bonner County and part of Kootenai County.

When firefighters arrived on scene, they found smoke emanating from the roof and fire consuming the interior as snow and 11-degree temperatures challenged the fire crews. Firefighters inside the building encountered cramped conditions, vintage construction and years of remodeling.

After three hours of battling the blaze, the crews were forced to resort to defensive measures after concerns arose about the stability of the century-old structures. A third building housing Grace Sandpoint Church and Grace Sandpoint Bible College sustained heavy smoke and water damage.

While an empty hole sits where the five businesses — The Hound, Headlines Salon, Sandpoint Tattoo and Body Piercing, The Chocolate Bear and China Kitchen — once saw thriving business, plans are in the works that would include a mix of office space, a return of The Hound restaurant and residential space.

“We’re really pretty excited what it is he’s looking at doing,” said City Administrator Jennifer Stapleton. “He wants a feature, premiere property here in Sandpoint. He sees that as a key area of downtown so we’re really excited about that.”

Stapleton said the new property owner is looking at a single building that faces both First Avenue and Sand Creek. At this point, the city is waiting for a proposal, which will likely push the building to the property line to take advantage of the creek view more and potentially an angled entrance at First Avenue and Bridge Street.

The plans fit in line with the city’s plans to close the entrance from Gunnings Alley onto Bridge Street to improve safety for pedestrians, bicyclists and drivers alike. Both the original design from the city’s engineers for the downtown project and what’s being contemplated as part of the Parks & Recreation Master Plan, propose removing the ramp and closing access entry off of Bridge Street.

“We own the property behind him and he would like to take advantage of Sand Creek so we anticipate moving forward with some type of a proposal that is some type of public-private partnership to achieve what both parties want,” Stapleton said. “Obviously we would be interested in achieving the public objectives and we anticipate that moving forward and there being a public hearing on that at some point this spring.”

The fire and the aftermath had a significant impact to the downtown, both in terms of business and in the city’s ability to provide services.

“We certainly have seen an impact in terms of sales, both immediately after the fire and for some time, with the aftermath, with the cleanup and with the investigation,” Stapleton said. “Any time we’ve got barriers up, fencing up, there’s just an appearance in the downtown that it’s closed or it’s not an inviting place that people want to go to.”

“We have heard and we have seen definitely the impacts to the surrounding businesses. And it’s been particularly difficult with the fire and the impact there and we kind of call it the bookend on the other end and with the closure of the property next to the Cedar Street Bridge, formerly where Arlo’s was, and that development taking some time, too.”

However, that property also has sold and that developer also has plans to make the site “the crown jewel” of his company’s portfolio. The individual is in the midst of the permitting process with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Stapleton said.

Of the businesses impacted, it’s been a mix of what happened in the year since the fire. Some of the businesses were able to find alternate locations, The Chocolate Bear moved to its other store in Spokane Valley, Wash., and The Hound plans to return to the downtown once the developer who bought the two properties rebuilds. Grace Sandpoint reopened several months ago after significant remodeling and repairs.

Chocolate Bear’s Dennis Powell said he’d love to return to Sandpoint but said for his business the location is key. He said he hasn’t heard much from the city or anyone else about the building.

“We’d love to move back, but it’s all about location,” he said.

In order to stay in business, Powell and his wife, Cherie, moved operations to their other business, the Chocolate Apothecary in Spokane and hope that some day they can return to Sandpoint.

“Some people did offer space but it didn’t work for what we did,” Powell said. “We love Sandpoint and we appreciate their great hearts.”

Powell also praised the firefighters for fighting so hard to save his business and the others.

“The firefighters did 110 percent,” he added. “They did such a great job for such a bad time of year.”

Caroline Lobsinger can be reached by email at clobsinger@bonnercountydailybee.com and follow her on Twitter @CarolDailyBee.