For the past several months we've been noticing that the "neighborhood bar" in our area has been closed and is for sale. Everybody wondered about the price, so I tried to find it on line.
Nope - a search for real estate in Priest River didn't come up with it. But we all kept wondering, so the last time we went by I wrote down the name of the agent and agency, and today tried looking on their website. And I finally did find it!
I didn't see any sections on the site for commercial properties, which is probably why I found it under
homes for sale. I also found it listed as a home on Zillow. The description was glowing and would make you think it's a thriving, operating business. Sorry - it's been closed for months.
What I DID see was that on the Caldwell Banker Site under property type it said "Industrial," and under zoning it said "yes." Home size and building area were the same - is that something new? On Zillow it said the lot size was .69 acres, so??
My thoughts... the agent didn't care enough to enter things correctly. I'm sure MLS must have a category for businesses and I'm sure it wouldn't have taken him long to find that the area is zoned rural.
If he can't take the time to fill out the listing information correctly for MLS - will he take the time for anything else? I would sure never hire him after seeing just this one listing.
Out of curiosity, I Googled the address and found more... on a site called "commercial real estate.find the data.com" it's listed as an office building!
The rest of the story ... is kinda sad.
This may be on the market forever. Those who don't mind being right on the road might love to build a home on that curve of the river, but the lot is too small for building under today's rules (5 acres for rural), and the poor old tavern is in pretty rough shape. On top of that, I doubt they'd ever get another septic permit. There's not enough room between the river and the road and the rules say a drainfield must be 300' from live water.
They've done additions and remodeling, but the "core" is a 1940 building that was pretty much a shack even when I was a kid.
The poor old place has sold too many times since the original owners retired back in the 70's or early 80's. Each time the price has gone up, so now at $185,000 a new owner would be hard pressed to sell enough beer to make a payment, cover the rest of the overhead, and earn an income.
Once upon a time they had a steady clientele from neighborhood old timers and loggers heading in after a hard day. They used to stop in to tip a few after work - but everybody knows that's no longer safe. Later it turned into a "biker bar" and the locals started staying away.
Too bad. I remember going there with my dad when I was just a little kid. We used to fish on the river bank just behind the tavern and then stop in to visit with Fritz and Irene before we went home. In those days no one fainted if a 6 year old kid sat on a bar stool with a coke while Dad had a beer and traded stories with the proprietor. Later on my husband and I took our kids fishing there, but by then things had changed, so we didn't stop in.
Image courtesy of Stuart Miles / FreeDigitalPhotos.net
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