Spokane/ CDA development discussions
 

started a new page for our discussions we started on vox tower thread. by the way what was the winning proposal for the jenson byrd building

Then we will start back with the winning proposal..

Edge group recently purchased that beauty of a building..
Sounds like a strong proposal... What a great idea



The Phoenix Project
H o m e | I n i t i a t i v e s | B e n e f i t s | F o r u m




The Phoenix Project will kick-start Spokane’s University District by combining in a single location all the elements needed for creativity to thrive. It would be like Seattle’s Pike Place Market on the ground floor with a mini-Silicon Valley on the floors above.

Imagine a place filled with color and music, where you can watch potters and glassblowers and bread bakers at work, or buy fresh fruits and vegetables and flowers from the farmer who grew them.

Imagine a place where you can see great movies that never seem to show up at the multiplex, or make and edit your own movie.

Imagine a place where you can try out your great idea, whether it’s a Japanese soba shop or the next Google, and get the help you need to succeed.

Imagine a place where local residents mingle with visitors from around the region and around the world; where students and faculty from area universities mix with artists, writers, filmmakers, craftspeople, and musicians who share office space and ideas and referrals.

The projected location for the Phoenix Project is the classic Jensen-Byrd warehouse complex, with 185,000 square feet of currently empty space in the heart of the University District, just two blocks from the new convention center.

To become the best, we must learn from the best. The Phoenix Project builds on the legacy of earlier, proven Spokane catalysts like Second City and the original farmers’ market, but also incorporates other successful ideas from some of the most thriving economies in the world, including Silicon Valley, Tokyo, Vienna, Boston, Paris, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Austin, and Seattle. Our advantage is that, because we are starting from a small base, we can put all these catalysts in one place, maximizing the serendipity needed to generate new ideas and creative ways of implementing them.

The low cost space allows us to experiment, to encourage new ideas to blossom in such profusion that the inevitable failures will be seen as merely lessons on the road to success. As one business leaves, another takes its place. The Phoenix Project impact will go far beyond the University District, creating jobs at all levels of the pay scale, securing Spokane’s future as one of the most connected cities in the world and the source of startups exploiting the benefits of the connectivity, creating businesses that will fill the empty buildings and vacant lots of the city and that will build new factories and campuses in the valley, and perhaps even generate a “Spokane Scene” in music and the arts that attracts creative people from around the world. The only obstacle to bringing all these sources of opportunity and fun to fruition is our own imagination and willpower.

H o m e | I n i t i a t i v e s | B e n e f i t s | F o r u m

pic by metro spokane (a great site that is really intouch with Spokane)


http://metrospokane.typepad.com/./ph...zed/jb0014.jpg

that conniptions person on that site is completely wrong. the building looks rundown yes but the brick looks fine, i drive by this almost everyday. perhaps could add a smaller new entrance to the front of the building. this building is large and very workable.

^ Yes the one with the comments is wrong.. probably city council undercover.. ha ha... it is very workable and location is prime...... especially for a market and all the loading docks available... then all those floors to work with.. WSU has done well by capturing this area..

great opportunity to check out more details about the proposal this Wed.

"The Phoenix Project: Kick-Starting a Regional Renaissance" is on Wednesday, May 10, at 5 pm at SIRTI's 4th Floor boardroom, 665 N. Riverpoint Blvd. The event is free and open to the public.

I think other cities would kill for all the older buildings Spokane is fortunate to have! IMO.

What do you guys think of the new Convention Center expansion?
I liked the older color for the Opera House/Convention Center myself. The Flat light gray doesn't drive me wild! I do think the new expansion would be appreciated more if there was more greenspace in front by Spokane Falls Blvd.
IMO. It's such a large building, you have to get away from it to appreciate the size and design! I do think the mural will be an improvement around Division St.!

^ Good afternoon Hub! Yes sir you are correct Spokane is very fortunate to have the older architecture especially on the west coast.. I have not seen the convention center "live" but based on renderings I can go with the color and design... reason is if you look at Spokane it has plenty of great older architecure as noted then heavy into the 70's up to the 80's then it came to a hult.. I do believe Spokane's downtown is in desperate need of something modern to it.. inorder to look towards and tie the future into it.. based on pics it is crowded not leave much area for "greenery" or compliments... I remember a few years ago that WSU was working on specific designs around that location (division bridge area) as entering gateway into downtown that looked nice.. I do see that another entrance is on tap but I think it is a much different idea based on photos etc... not to crazy about it..

Here is the original artical from a few years ago:

Students Design Spokane Gateway


SPOKANE, Wash. -- A Washington State University student design featuring 80-foot-tall steel columns, water elements, a tunnel under Spokane Falls Boulevard and other innovative concepts took top honors at a design competition Aug. 29.

That project and others were honored as winners in the Seventh Annual Community Design and Construction Charrette conducted by the Interdisciplinary Design Institute at WSU Spokane.

This year’s charrette challenged students to conceptualize a “Spokane Gateway” that would enhance Division Street and the intersection with Spokane Falls Boulevard and Trent Avenue. David Wang, charrette organizer and associate professor of architecture at WSU Spokane, cited the St. Louis arch and the Statue of Liberty as examples of gateway signatures that come to symbolize and create enduring memories of an entire city.

Judges described the first-place entry as the most comprehensive of the 22 designs in the competition. “It shows a real depth of understanding of the whole choreography and movement all through the site,” said Tom Reese, economic development adviser for the city of Spokane and one of the event judges.

The team’s gateway element consists of 15 steel columns, 50-80 feet high, clad in opaque Lexan® plastic with internal colored lighting and streaming water that skims along their surfaces down to small pools at the base. Other elements of its overall design include a water sculpture at the Interstate 90 off-ramp, a bicycle lane, refurbishing of the train trestle that passes over Division at Sprague Avenue and a conversion of Division into a boulevard, with a light rail system and terminal.

Other gateway elements proposed ranged from a golden ball sculpture, representing the original meaning of the word “Spokane” -- Children of the Sun -- to a large abstract glass sculpture overhead, to a striking curved openwork archway and pedestrian skywalk with historic echoes of railroad trestle construction.

At the charrette kickoff Aug. 26, Spokane Mayor John Powers invited the students to imagine a favorite path or front door and think about the ways in which the approach to a place influences how you feel about it.

“Make a special impression,” he urged; “our front door isn’t yet what it needs to be.” The mayor told students, “Spokane is the best base camp in the world,” with examples of 90 percent of the world’s natural features found within a 300-mile radius of the city, from desert to rain forest to mountains.

Mike Edwards, president of the Downtown Spokane Partnership, also spoke at the opening. He cited past examples of WSU Spokane student work that has had real-world impact. “Last year’s charrette focused on the Great Gorge Park; the Legislature appropriated $250,000 for the project. Matt Melcher (interior design assistant professor) did a Main Street project a few years ago with students; now Main Street is coming alive and connecting to Riverpoint. Another project looked at putting a fountain in Riverfront Park—now there’s a fundraiser under way to build such a fountain.”

Drawing on his memories as an environmental design student at Cal Poly, Reese said of the charrette format, “Incredibly long hours, interesting group dynamics, tensions, seemingly unrealistic program scope, impossible deliverables—I envy you.”

Student design work in the past has created community enthusiasm for a designated “University District” centered on the Riverpoint and Gonzaga campuses. Their concepts sparked support from community leaders that led to a federal funding request sponsored by Sen. Patty Murray on behalf of Spokane. If funded, the project would include work on this same area.

Don't dis Cal Poly.

Ahhh how Shonan1 missed Mr. Metro..... always bringing something to the thread...... "cough" "cough"



Also anyone know anything about the North Bank Developement?

This is one of my favorites for North of the park minus the fake trolly but the real one invisioned is in the pdf:

http://www.spokaneparks.org/hotissue...ugust%2002.pdf

Mr. Metro ALWAYS has some words of wisdom for us. ;) Cal Poly is a great school... but the campus is kinda blah. The idea of Spokane's U-district is really interesting! It will bring a great creative energy to the city! This is the first I've heard of the Phoenix Project.

The redevelopment of the J-B building is an important part of the Riverpoint Campus, College Park (my name as I refuse to use "U District") development and expansion, and the tying in of College Park with east downtown Spokane.

Because the building is so important I'm absolutely dumbfounded and outraged that WSU, my alma mater, chose to contract with firms from Portland and Vancouver to consult on the redevelopment of the building.

There is more than enough economic development, historical preservation and adaptive reuse talent in Spokane to do the work and do it well. Furthermore, WSU has its interdisciplinary studies program (combination of real estate, architecture, landscape architecture, interior design) in Spokane and it seems like an excellent opportunity for the students to obtain some real world experience and make contacts in the local community and maybe even to see their future in Spokane. The future of WSU and of Spokane and the success of both is intertwined and each is dependent upon the other.

Sometimes I just shake my head at things...

You bring up a vailid point CrimsonW.. not to take away from Portland/Vancouver frirms but as far as independently standing alone or "keeping it" within an arms reach with WSU and local firms is good for both business relations, knowledge and experience. WSU has much to offer to Spokane and Spokane can be much used as a blank canvus for WSU...

True, it would be nice that WSU supported local business! Of course WSU does have a Vancouver campus also! I'm just happy that the Jensen-Byrd Building is going to be used in the plan!

Any word on the VOX Tower this week?

wow they are really going to town on the davenport. they have most of the first 2 floors skeleton up. i wish i had a digital camera to snap a couple photos for everyone. the convention center is great, i think they have plans to plant trees when the construction is complete along spokane falls blvd.

^I have yet to hear anything about the Vox since last week... Hub there is great piece/slideshow on the restoration of the Fox theater downtown in today's Spokesman review on line...

I saw the article on the Fox in today's paper. I'm into art deco myself....so the FOX will put Spokane on the map!

Yes the Davenport Tower looked like they were making progress when I saw it Sunday!

They are supposed to put up a 700' mural along Divison St. next to the Convention Center.....designed by the same artist that did the Red Wagon in the park! Glad to see it coming, since the loading docks needs to be screened out!

I've got nothing against the firms in Portland/Vancouver...in fact, if the building were located at WSU-Vancouver I'd be all for hiring those folks.

But, as reality would have it, the building is in Spokane and this decision makes no sense to me.

I would imagine things on the VOX front will be quiet for awhile as the project moves through the governmental mess that is permitting etc.

Any news on the hippie/luddite attempts to deep six Mick McDowell's tower?

Here's my predictopalooza: The rookery survives and Wells and Co. enters into a JV with an out of town shop to redevelop the Rookery and the Mohawk plus put up some sort of condo tower where the hole now sits. I say a deal is announced in the next 60 days.

:cheers:

anyone want to offer a brief background on the University District for the uninitiated? i've spent many a summer around spokane at my dads, but that was in Mead, not exactly an urban hub, so if someone could tell me what area the district is planned for, it'd be great. the developments (vox, kendall yards, light rail, etc.) sound very promising for spokane's future. nice to see spokane generating some momentum

dR-

Here's a link to the masterplan (pdf - 4.7mb)

A map of the district is below. It's a general area with loose boundaries. Plenty of maps in the masterplan above.
http://www.fotothing.com/photos/e8a/...fa8a26ae18.jpg
Enjoy!

^a masterplan and a map...it feels like christmas! thanks for the link Spokanite. seeing the location, this whole U district concept seems like a great idea for spokane, i really hope that you all up there pull it off. the transportation connections with future light rail and the Centennial Trail, waterfront locale, and proximity to downtown...just has all the right ingredients to be great.