Templin's Post Falls Closing: What Stays Open on the Riverfront This Fall?

The week StanCraft announced that Templin's on the River would close its hotel, Doug Harris was at Marina 33 getting ready to take his boat out. He chairs the Kootenai County Waterways Advisory Board and has lived in Post Falls for 13 years. According to The Spokesman-Review, he was heading onto the river for his last ride of the year. He also told the paper, "This is a completely different marina than it used to be."

That detail sums up the property right now. The 167-room hotel Bob Templin built in 1986 closes on Oct. 23. The marina below it stays open, and its owners are now calling it the center of what comes next. Through the end of 2026, public life on the Post Falls waterfront comes down to those docks and a short stretch of Spokane Street. Meanwhile the river under the docks is dropping on a schedule Avista posts every weekday.

The two dates that close the hotel side

The first closure lands a day before the hotel's. The DAM Bar & Restaurant inside the hotel calls itself "the only waterfront dining in Post Falls." Its regular hours have been Wednesday through Sunday, 4 to 9 p.m. Its website now carries a "Last Call Before We Close" notice: the doors close Thursday, Oct. 22, at 10 p.m. The notice doesn't say whether the restaurant will come back.

The hotel closes the next day. The Coeur d'Alene Press reported that StanCraft is closing it temporarily to "reposition" the property, and that both a remodel and a redevelopment are on the table. The ownership group hasn't announced a plan, a new operator or a timeline. The release said more details would come "as plans progress."

Post Falls Chamber of Commerce President and CEO Christina Petit told The Spokesman-Review that the hotel's event center hosted weddings and high school and family reunions, and that the Chamber held monthly and annual gatherings at the marina.

"It was the only event center of its type in the community, so a lot of amazing memories happened on that property." Christina Petit, as quoted by The Spokesman-Review

Why the marina is the part to watch

StanCraft has owned the hotel, bar and marina since spring 2024. It started with the water, and its October announcement keeps the focus there. Marina manager Stephen Pichotta told The Spokesman-Review that crews completely rearranged the docks to improve access and add public day-use parking for boaters. They also added a 44-slip dock, bringing the total to 247 slips, and plan to replace the existing docks over the next several years. He said the new owners have brought back community events such as live music. Petit said some of those gatherings had faded over the previous decade.

According to the Press, StanCraft said Marina 33 will stay "central" to its plans for the waterfront and that it will keep investing there. The amenities it named could include:

• Boat and water sport rentals
• A fixed-pier boardwalk along the water's edge
• Public side-tie and day parking for boats
• Slip rentals and slip ownership

All four are possibilities. None of them is open yet. Today the marina operates at 414 E. 1st Ave., and its website lists food, beer, wine and mixed drinks. We couldn't confirm fall hours or whether non-boaters can walk in for food, so check with the marina before planning a visit. A company whose roots go back to custom mahogany boats in 1933 has made the docks, not the hotel, its first public priority for the property.

The water under those docks is already dropping

The marina's biggest constraint this fall comes from Avista. Its federal license for the Spokane River Project, which includes Post Falls Dam, requires the company to hold Coeur d'Alene Lake at a summer full pool of 2,128 feet until the Tuesday after Labor Day. Avista lowers it after that. In an Avista release republished by KHQ, the company describes the usual pace: about a foot by the end of September, then roughly another foot and a half each month until the lake reaches its winter level. The drawdown slightly lowers the river between the lake and the Post Falls bridge, and Avista doesn't open the dam's spill gates to do it.

Here are this year's numbers. On Oct. 9, 2026, Avista's water flow page put the lake at 2,126.51 feet, about a foot and a half below its summer maximum, with an end-of-October target of 2,125.50. The Spokane Street Bridge gauge, above the dam, read 2,126.27 feet, also about a foot and a half below normal summer level, and Avista expected the water there to "decrease some over the next week." If Avista hits that target, the lake will sit about two and a half feet below its 2,128-foot summer pool by the end of October, and Avista's release says the river above the dam drops along with it.

Below the dam, the river was running about 1,140 cubic feet per second that morning: roughly 150 through the North Channel and 990 through the South Channel. Avista expected those flows to hold steady for the following week. The page also warns that conditions "can change drastically at any time depending upon weather and dam operations." Avista runs a 24-hour recorded line for Idaho at (208) 769-1357.

Falling water also explains why boating season ends before the docks do. Avista says the Q'emiln Park boat launch, upstream of the dam, usually closes in mid-November because of weather and dropping water, and stays closed through much of fall and spring. Last year it closed on Monday, Nov. 10, 2025. As of this writing, Avista hasn't announced a 2026 closure date. The ramp usually reopens in late spring or early summer, depending on how much water flows into Coeur d'Alene Lake.

Where the riverfront crowd goes instead

Once the hotel and the DAM Bar close, most of the river-adjacent gathering shifts a short walk up to Spokane Street. Post Falls Brewing Co. at 112 N. Spokane St. describes itself as "resting above the banks" of the river. It's open daily from noon to 10 p.m., opens at 10 a.m. on Sundays for NFL games, and welcomes kids and well-behaved dogs on the patio. Pi-daho Artisan Pizza parks there Wednesday through Sunday, and there's live music every Saturday from 6 to 9 p.m.

Eats on Spokane Street at 106 N. Spokane St. is, in The Spokesman-Review's words, "just around the corner from Templin's." One longtime resident who lives a block from the hotel told the paper there that he hopes the owners renovate rather than convert it to something else.

The Centennial Trail sets the rest of the walking routes. The Press reported that a two-mile section from Pleasantview Road east toward Spokane Street was scheduled to close Sept. 23 through Oct. 14 for a $280,051 asphalt replacement. The most recent coverage we've seen still lists that end date and doesn't mention any extension.

Here's how the rest of the season lines up on that short stretch of town:

You can find event details on the Eats on Spokane Street calendar and the City of Post Falls calendar.

What the next announcement will settle

Two open questions will shape next summer on this stretch of river. The first is what happens to the hotel building: a remodel or a redevelopment, which StanCraft says it is still weighing. The second is how many of the marina amenities it named, including the public side-tie, the day parking for boats and the boardwalk, actually get built. Until then, the marina, the brewery patio and the Spokane Street sidewalks are the public riverfront in Post Falls. In its license application, Avista said the lake typically begins refilling in late winter or early spring.

If you own frontage on this reach of the Spokane River and want to talk through what the Templin's decision could mean for your stretch of shoreline, Corcoran-Hall & Co. follows the property and the river closely. Request a Private Consultation and we'll keep you updated as StanCraft's plans become public.

This article is general information, not legal, tax or financial advice. Consult a qualified professional about your situation.