COEUR d’ALENE — A plan to revitalize a part of Coeur d’Alene that has been in a funk for decades took a nosedive Wednesday when officials made public that just one developer showed interest in investing in a half-acre chunk of property along Fourth Street north of downtown.

The midtown parcel — owned by ignite cda, the city’s urban renewal agency ­— is zoned for commercial and residential use, and is surrounded by an array of businesses including salons, eateries, and thrift stores.

Beginning last year, ignite cda asked interested parties to submit proposals for the midtown property that would be considered this month.

To its dismay, just one party was interested in purchasing the property outright, without following protocol and submitting any plans at all.

Chad Oakland, part of the team behind the $150,000 offer for the property, said having grown up in midtown, he is well aware of its mediocre economic history.

Oakland — a real estate broker and developer who teamed up with Tom and Teresa Capone and Dan Stubbs to buy the property — said midtown has been in a funk for several decades.

“It’s been in transition since I was born,” said Oakland. ”It’s going to fix itself organically.”

In addition to submitting a bid for the property, which didn’t meet the basic proposal requirements asked by ignite, the potential investors didn’t have an immediate plan for the property.

“We want to create some more activity, get some growth to midtown,” Oakland said. “It’s tough when no one has known what to do there for 14 years.”

Oakland said if he and his team were selected to develop the site, they would likely sit on the purchase for a couple years as they mulled the best use for the property on the 800 block of north Fourth Street.

Oakland said the brief timeline set by ignite cda to submit a proposal, present plans and build was unreasonable and likely why no one else bothered to consider taking part in the process.

Midtown resident David Lyons, who has watched plans for the property come and go for more than a decade, had another idea.

“It’s time to transfer the property to the city,” Lyons said.

If ignite cda doesn’t do something soon with the property, it will revert to the city anyhow, Lyons said. He tagged the value of the property around $500,000.

“The city can handle it,” Lyons said. “We trust the city because they are open and accountable.”

Ignite cda commissioner Brad Jordan said by cleaning up the burned building that once stood at the site, and replacing the shady businesses that once occupied the block, ignite cda has already accomplished one of its goals.

“We did it to eliminate slum and blight in midtown, and we’ve accomplished that,” Jordan said. “I don’t feel any desperation to get rid of this property.”

The board declined the $150,000 offer and opted instead to form an ad hoc committee to help decide what’s next for the property.

“They will bring the conversation back to the board at the next meeting, or in March,” ignite cda director Tony Berns said. “There just wasn’t as much interest as we thought there would be.”

- In other business, the board opted to follow Idaho code, allowing the agency to destroy public records. According to state law semi-permanent public records that include such things as claims, canceled checks and department reports can be destroyed after five years, and temporary records such as building plans, cash receipts, project worksheets and employee records can be destroyed after two years.