Historic Davids’ Building in Moscow Has Been Sold

For Immediate Release

Moscow, ID, December 17, 2021 – The historic Davids’ building on the corner of Third and Main in downtown Moscow, Idaho, has been sold, making it the first time the highly visible building has changed hands in decades. Davids Building LLC, formed by three Moscow businessmen and friends—Andrew Crapuchettes, Aaron Rench, and Nate Wilson—finally closed on the building on Wednesday (12/15) after protracted legal complications on the seller’s side.

“This was one of the most difficult transactions I have had in my 33 years of doing real estate,” said Wayne Browning, the listing agent from Key Properties. “And it was a cash offer, so it should have been a piece of cake. But I first listed this building for the current seller’s father in 2001. After twenty years, I should have known it wouldn’t be easy. But once Aaron Rench gets his teeth into something, he doesn’t really let go! If it weren’t for him, this never would have gone through. Not for any buyer.”

Aaron Rench ran point on the acquisition throughout the protracted process.

“Every now and then you end up in a deal where you figure, well, I’ve stayed on the bull this long, why let go now?” Rench said. “I’ve had that happen before, but this was the first time I’ve experienced something like it in real estate.”

Rench has worked as a literary agent in the past, but he currently works primarily as a producer.

The seller was Barry Tassler, an owner of adult clubs in the Boise and Las Vegas areas. Tassler’s father owned the building before him. The complexities in the sale came from contested tax liens and a convoluted chain of title involving defunct out-of-state companies and mistakes made by previous title companies.

Rench gives much of the credit for sorting everything out to local lawyer Susan Wilson as well as Moscow Title. But lawyers in Utah, Nevada, and Boise were also involved.

Now that the purchase has gone through, Davids Building LLC can turn its attention to next steps.

“First things first, we empty out a couple decades’ worth of junk,” Rench said. “And then we put on a new roof. Once the building isn’t actively rotting, we’ll settle on a phase-one renovation.”

“I’ve known the Davids’ property my whole life,” Nate Wilson said. “I remember playing mini-golf in there when I was a kid. And I remember all the divey club iterations it went through, and the faux Gold’s gym that opened in the basement. I’m grateful we can start pushing it back in a more beautiful direction. We won’t be able to get to our long-term vision right away—there’s so much it needs—but we can get started. To be honest, we’ll probably be working on this one for the rest of our lives.”

“I just want to help make Moscow more beautiful,” Andrew Crapuchettes said. “I believe in investing where you live, and some of that investment isn’t just financial, it’s aesthetic. We want to live in a beautiful town, and I think we can all admit the southeast corner of Third and Main could improve.”

Andrew Crapuchettes is an entrepreneur who grew Emsi from a local startup to a near half-a-billion- dollar valuation before exiting to start his new venture, RedBalloon. He has also acquired the McConnell Building and the Jackson grain silos on the south side of town and has been investing heavily in both.

Nate Wilson and Aaron Rench have been working together since 2005, when Wilson was beginning what would become a successful literary career, and Rench was his agent. They expanded into production in 2008 and currently run production offices in Moscow and out of the old Troy High School, which they acquired and began updating in 2020.

“The size of the old high school will allow us to handle even more of our production regionally,” Wilson said. “We have a lot of shows in the pipeline, and while chasing tax incentives around the country can be enticing, staying close to home is even more so.”

Wilson and Rench have already acquired and renovated two other properties on Moscow’s Main Street, including the Nuart Theater, where their preservation of the marquee received the Latah County Historical Society’s Orchid Award in 2019.

After Rench’s brother was illegally arrested by MPD for not wearing a mask at an outdoor Psalm sing last year, Wilson and Rench made red protest stickers that read, “Soviet Moscow: Enforced Because We Care.” The City of Moscow has been prosecuting Wilson for more than a year after his sons allegedly placed those stickers on poles downtown. The city has cited an ordinance that forbids the posting of signs or fliers (such as yard-sale signs and lost-dog fliers) without permission. In the history of the town, Wilson and his sons are still the only ones to ever be prosecuted or even cited under that ordinance before or since the sticker incident.

“Clearly, not everybody in city government loves me,” Wilson said. “But I still love my city. And I hope to leave it better than I found it.”

If any other business or property owners downtown are interested in selling, they are invited to reach out to any of the three partners, or to Wayne Browning.

Contact: Gwen Burrow, gwenmburrow@gmail.com

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The Davids’ Building in History