The Idaho state Department of Labor says it plans to move its Coeur d'Alene offices into a $4.3 million structure it will build on 2.8 acres of land it has bought in Post Falls.

The planned building site, which the state agency bought for $630,000, is located just north of Interstate 90 at the south end of Thornton Street, about a quarter-mile east of the Post Falls Wal-Mart Stores Inc. supercenter, says Katie Lamm, the agency's facilities manager in Boise.

The department plans to issue a request for qualifications late this month for design and construction of a 16,000-square foot-building on the vacant parcel, says Jo Ann Edminston, the department's Coeur d'Alene office manager. She says the department expects to move into the new building in 12 to 18 months.

The department currently occupies about 16,000 square feet of leased space in a building at 1221 W. Ironwood Drive, in Coeur d'Alene, that also has two other tenants.

The department's staffing level, which is at about 45 employees in Coeur d'Alene, will be about the same in the new building, Edminston says.

"The advantage of the move will be that the department will own the building," she says.

Linda Wilhelm, of Coldwell Banker Schneidmiller Realty, and James Koon, of Century 21 Beutler & Associates, handled the real estate transaction. Both real estate firms are based in Coeur d'Alene.