Downtown building with ‘unique’ advantages awaiting new owner
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POCATELLO – A building is up for sale in downtown Pocatello, and thanks to its unique characteristics, it could be used to serve a number of important community needs for the area.
The building, which once housed Caribou Jack’s, is located directly across the street from a five story office tower, and is only a block away from Pocatello High School and Lookout Point. The property has been available to buy or lease since March, and its current owner sees it as a unique opportunity that an ambitious developer could take on.
“There is quite a bit of growth happening, and I hugely believe in downtown. Our particular location is kind of a unique bird down here,” said Robert Lau, the owner of the property.
And while Lau said he has had two frontrunners emerge who may buy the property, he said that people are still free to contact him with questions, and to potentially make an offer.
EastIdahoNews.com covered the event in April 2023 when Lau opened his second Caribou Jack’s location, at 120 North Arthur Avenue. Lau’s first store was in his hometown, Soda Springs, and it was a hardware store selling a wide range of products, including sporting, landscaping and home improvement equipment.
RELATED | Caribou Jack cuts the ribbon in Pocatello’s Historic Downtown
Three years later, Lau decided to close both locations, citing a variety of reasons.
“At the end of the day, we closed more for personal reasons than anything else,” Lau said.
The stores operated with a small margin for error, and Pocatello residents generally continued to gravitate towards big-box stores for the types of items they sold. Lau still saw Caribou Jack’s as “a great place to raise our kids, teach them how to work.”
But Lau’s children have grown up now, with his youngest being 16-years-old.
“They’ve got their own dreams that they’re chasing, and so it just was a good time to (close),” Lau said.
The way Lau sees it, the former Caribou Jack’s building offers potential buyers opportunities that other buildings in the downtown area don’t offer.
With approximately 14,000 square feet in total, split between an 11,000-square-foot main floor and an upper-level mezzanine, the building has plenty of space for retail or offices – or both. Additionally, the other half of the property is a parking lot, with around 50 stalls.
And not only that, but Lau said the building is capable of expansion.
“The building has tons of capability, structurally, to do some crazy stuff with,” Lau said.
Lau said that because of the building’s setbacks, which most other downtown buildings don’t have, there’s enough space to install structural support pillars within the property lines. At that point, a developer could build new floors on top of the existing building.
Lau shared with EastIdahoNews.com what he would do with the property, “if money were no object.”
“If it were me, I would build a six-story tower over the top of this … because I have plenty of space to put in my columns,” Lau said.
Lau said he would then turn it into a boutique hotel, with condominium units on the top two floors and hotel rooms on the lower four floors.
“Then this upstairs area can become some conference space, and this downstairs area can become (a) lobby, restaurant, wine bar, whatever,” Lau said.
He feels that splitting the space between hotel and permanent living units would give travelers the chance to stay right in downtown while also providing more living space for people to buy.
“The condos would definitely appeal more to a little bit higher price point, for somebody who wants the amenities that a hotel has, but wants to buy,” Lau said.
Additionally, Lau said the building could become a corner-store-style grocer, which would meet a need in the downtown area.
“(A) grocery store is definitely a top need. And yes, we do have Ridleys, but a neighborhood market (is needed),” Lau said. “Especially one that has prepared foods that could serve the high school, people who work downtown, but also people who are going home from work.”
An advantage a corner store could offer the area would be a more focused inventory of everyday items within walking distance for local residents. Additionally, Lau added that a corner store could offer healthier food items than those typically found at big-box grocery stores.
“They can get all the things to make a really cool downtown corner market type of thing, and have a more healthy bend. There are a lot of people in this community who want the healthier stuff, and there are just not a lot of places to get it,” Lau said.
Lau even proposed that someone who buys the property could open using just the existing facilities, and then add a tower on top once they’re financially able to.
“A developer who really sees the potential of downtown and sees what’s going on, this would be a really exciting half-block to build on,” Lau said.
With all these factors put together, the space the property offers, its proximity to school, office, and green space, and the setbacks unique to the downtown area, Lau sees the building as one that could be financially lucrative for a developer.
“The money pencils out pretty well. That’s just not what I’m focused on at this point in my life,” Lau said.
And while Lau’s store is officially closed, he sees this as a new beginning – in both his personal life and for the building.
“(It’s) time to do something new,” Lau said.
