Businesses, building at 200 block of North Fourth finding new life after fire

COEUR d’ALENE — The brick building at the northeast corner Fourth Street and Lakeside Avenue — and many of the businesses that were displaced when a fire destroyed the building in January — will rise again.

“Never quit. Never give up," Luis Gomez, owner of 720 Haberdashery, said Thursday afternoon.

Gomez lost most of his inventory when the early morning fire seared through his shop, but he was lucky to quickly reopen just across the street at 116 N. Fourth St.

"The place burned down the 20th of January. I reopened here the 20th of February," he said. "The same day of the fire, I received a message from a friend next door saying this place was going to become available."

The haberdashery closed soon after opening at its new location because of the COVID-19 lockdown.

"Immediately after I opened, they had us close because of the quarantine,” he said. “After that, then the threat of the looting, so I had to tape up everything, I had to put everything in the back just in case. I was like, ‘Wow.'"

He said it’s been "an emotional roller coaster ride," but he's looking forward to a grand opening July 18.

"God has my back," Gomez said.

Schmidty's Burgers, owned by Denise and Nate Schmidt, plans to resurface once the right site is found. For now, they're playing the waiting game.

"We looked quite a bit before COVID-19. That put us on hold," Denise said. "We looked more, but we haven't found anything that’s that great so far. We’re planning on doing something, but we’re waiting on the right thing to come along, as far as the right price and the right square footage. It all has to fall into place."

She expressed her appreciation for the patience of Schmidty's Burgers' patrons, and for their business through the years.

"Just give us some time to figure out what direction we’re going to go from here," she said.

Emerge has rehomed at 119 N. Second St. in the old Frame of Mind Gallery building. This nonprofit collective art experience continues to engage and present arts-oriented activities for the community. A new interactive community project, “CDA is our Home,” with Izii Greene, Gabe Greene and Armando Cantarero, features chalkboards on the east side of the building that invite passersby to contribute their words and drawings to fill blanks following the words, "Coeur d'Alene is home to ..." and, "In our home we..." The project began last week and will be up for the next month.

"There was a lot of positive vibes out there and many people coming together supporting one another," Emerge posted on Facebook once it unveiled the project. "Swing by and add your thoughts. Together, let’s be the change that’s needed."

Heart City Tattoo has rebranded as Fourth Street Tattoo and is now at 2024 N. Fourth St., Suite B.

"The team, determined to rebuild their beloved shop, constructed and designed Fourth Street Tattoo just up the street from the original shop in the former 4th Street Pawn Shop building," reads a statement on www.fourthstreettattoo.com, the shop's website.

As for the old brick building at the 200 block of North Fourth Street, crews have been on site salvaging pieces and preparing for a rebuild.

Ted Lantzy, building official with the city of Coeur d'Alene, said the city has been in discussion with a local architect.

"It looks like the owner does have a plan to move forward and reconstruct that building, primarily leaving the main floor intact and reconstructing it, proposing to add a second floor on it as well," Lantzy said. "What you're seeing now, as far as the construction that's going on, is a structural fill material that’s being placed in the basement.

He said the basement will be removed and the structural fill material will put a base underneath the proposed footings so a second floor can be added. No set of permit plans are in for review at this time.

Calls to Cole Taylor Salon and Michael Score Farmers Insurance were not retuned by press time.