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)
