Cedar Palace closes for good

Weyerhaeuser’s “Cedar Palace” closed for good last week, with about 100 people out of work at what used to be Plum Creek’s administrative offices for the past 34 years.

Weyerhaeuser spokesman Tom Ray said the company has yet to determine what it will do with the building. The office was built in 1982 on 12th Avenue West and the Truck Route by the late Leonard Knutson, a longtime builder in Columbia Falls. Knutson and his crew started work in July, 1981 and staff moved in February 1982.

The two-story structure has more than 37,000 square feet of office space, including a storage area and basement. At the time, it replaced Plum Creek’s old offices, which were located next to the sawmill and were subsequently torn down.

The building featured 65 offices around a square open court.

It was designed so that all but two offices had windows. The original cost was $1 million and when it opened in ‘82 about 80 staffers worked there as it was Plum Creek’s main headquarters.

At the time its was built, Knutson said the building had more than one ton of wallpaper and 430 light fixtures. It is made mostly of wood and the exterior is cedar as is most of the interior paneling, thus the name “Cedar Palace.”

Jackola Engineering of Kalispell designed the building.