Developer grows on Spirit Lake, and vice versa-Sempre has big plans for little town

Coeur d’Alene _ John Sempre’s name is no longer a dirty word on the streets of Spirit Lake.

Now he’s considered bona fide, enough that few people balk at his latest plan to bring jobs to the former timber town that has been on a downward spiral since the mill closed in 1939.

Erica Curless
Staff writer Spokesman Review

The California pharmacist — who says he’s the furthest thing from a developer — recently bought two downtown lots and he’s looking at other properties along Maine Street.

He’s commissioning a study of job-creation possibilities in town, and he forecasts that he could be involved in everything from hiring to home loans.

Townspeople have given Sempre more credit since last fall, when he plugged the leaky Mill Pond with the help of lakefront property owners and other donors.

And people aren’t as worried that he is going to turn his 311 acres along the Mill Pond shore into a jungle of rooftops and garages, destroying Spirit Lake’s little-town image.

"It’s evidence of what can be accomplished when a community works together," said Debbie Waddell, an area native who is the manager of Intermountain Community Bank in Rathdrum.

That’s a huge change from 2001, when distrustful residents grilled Sempre at a few public hearings.

"They ran me around the block and back," Sempre said, laughing.

Now when he comes to town, the welcome is warm.

"John’s got some good ideas," said Dave Esterly, who owns the Old West Hardware and other buildings along Maine Street. "The area does need jobs, I just don’t know what he could create."

Esterly said staple businesses such as a bank and pharmacy are needed so people don’t have to drive to Rathdrum or Coeur d’Alene.

Sempre visited North Idaho last month to hire consultants to study options for revitalizing downtown. It’s a prospect that’s going to take a lot more than the snap of a wealthy pharmacist’s fingers.

"That’s very, very key in my opinion to the success of that city, is to be able to create jobs," Sempre said. "And that’s going to take a lot of work."

The study could take seven months, and Sempre feels no need to rush.

He has the money to do whatever the studies show as doable, he says. Sempre’s company, Southwood Pharmaceuticals Inc., is based in Lake Forrest, Calif., and has doubled its sales four years straight. He won’t give an estimated worth, but he said the company, which repackages and redistributes pharmaceuticals throughout the United States, is debt-free and considering going public.

.3Sempre is Southwood’s sole stock owner and said he will use the business to finance his Spirit Lake projects, both the downtown economic development and however he decides to develop his land along the Mill Pond, which includes 13 acres of commercial property. He has nixed the idea for a golf course, marina and multimillion-dollar resort because he thinks there are too many golf courses in the area and the season is too short in Spirit Lake.

Sempre recently bought two lots at the corner of state Highway 41 and Maine Street. He said it would be possible to construct an office building with retail shops.

He envisions hiring Spirit Lake residents to work in a marketing center related to his pharmaceutical company or similar businesses.

Once Spirit Lake residents have good jobs, Sempre said he could act as a bank and loan people, especially those who don’t qualify for traditional loans, the money to build homes.

He is also interested in establishing an urban renewal district, which would use public tax dollars to encourage private development.

But these are all just ideas.

"I’m just going to go slow and let things evolve naturally," Sempre said. "I’m in it for the long haul."

Mayor Roxy Martin is interested in Sempre’s plans.

"I think he can do it," Martin said. "There are a lot of people who would like to have a job closer to home or just have a job."

Martin said Sempre asked the city in February about buying City Hall and the police department building next door on Maine Street.

No offer has been made, but Martin said the city needs a home and that’s worth a lot more than the price of the decaying buildings and the land.

"We would have to have enough money to move," she said.

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