Spokane/ CDA development discussions

[SPOKANITE]

Originally Posted by revrw

Now they are following the model of Vancouver B.C. and if you have ever been there, you know that there downtown is alive at all times. I would see coffee shops open downtown all night. I was great!!! There downtown has nice tall residential towers. Seattle is starting to follow that model and in about 3-5 years, they will have a 24/7 downtown. Its a great model that Spokane should start to build around now and lay the ground work for the future.

Good discussion going on here

Vancouver has had tremendous success achieving a livable city. The main differences between it and SEattle, however, has been Vancouver's goal of making downtown a place for families. While SF has seen this group continue to decline, Vancouver has actually seen their numbers rise dramatically over the past 20 years. The residential development there reflects a much broader demographic than Seattle will see for many, many years if ever. To some degree they've been too successful with their residential model, to the point where they've a serious shortage of office space. A good explanation of this issue can be found here (pdf).

"The fear that residential is taking over the downtown is serious enough that the City of Vancouver has placed a moratorium on residential development in the office core. But some industry experts say it's already too late."

Let's face it, when it comes to development, commercial traditionally pays the bills.

I think what we all agree on is that for Seattle and Spokane a balance of commercial and residential would be best, and in my opinion I hope that balance includes many more families than our current path looks to be providing.

[revrw]

^Interesting article Spokanite! I do agree that balance is needed and should be promoted, but you have to admit.....that is a nice problem to have!! Not many cities can say they have that problem.

[revrw]

F.Y.I. everyone.....I talked to a guy who works with the county commissoner and he told me that even though they have not received all of the funding for the N/S freeway he is 100% sure that it will be completed in 10 years or less.

As much as I would like to believe him and I know he is credible, I hesitate to believe anything public officials promise.

[Hub for an Empire]

^^^^ What I heard, the Northern portion of the freeway opens in the summer or 2008. I would kind of agree that the freeway would be completed in about 10 years. Not much sense to have the new section ending at Francis Avenue. As a community, we have been debating the N-S freeway since the 1950's.....time to get it done and move on to other projects!.....Light Rail, Streetcars....ect.....

On the subject of business downtown: A variety is needed. People do need to support downtown now......the agrument about parking is lame......I even go down after 6pm or on Sundays and even still the parking isn't expensive like larger cities! That is the way to move downtown forward now, is to use it! Money speaks!

[revrw]

^ Since they started construction a few years ago, there has never been a question as to weather or not it will be finished, the debate has surrounded when will it be finished. They have only received about 300 million and they still need 1.8 billion!!! Since the state really doesn't like to spend their money on the eastside of the state, the debate was how long will it take for us to receive all of the money. So when I heard that it will be finished within 10 years I thought that was good news since most of the work will take place in phase 2 which is from Francis to I-90.

[InlandEmpire]

(hopefully these thoughts work out)

Affordable condos coming, economist says
Posted: Tuesday, Jun 20, 2006 - 09:56:45 pm PDT
By BRIAN WALKER
Staff writer





POST FALLS -- Randy Barcus sees change on the horizon in the local housing landscape.

The chief economist for Avista Corp., who spoke to the Post Falls Chamber at Red Lion Templin's Hotel on Tuesday, said the sea of new single-family homes will soon get company in affordable condominiums and townhouses.

"With high dirt costs, there's a need to go vertical," Barcus said in an interview after his talk. "Instead of a lot of two-story, single-family homes, you'll see more three- to four-story townhouses and condos.

"Sprawl, in my opinion, is over."


Barcus said he believes multi-family housing is what will be needed to absorb the predicted continuation of strong job growth.

With high fuel and land costs, Barcus said the young working class moving to the area will want to live near work. And for it to be affordable, that's going to take condos.

"What will be different is the lifestyle," Barcus said. "If your dream is two acres with llamas and lambs, it will be different. But the younger, mobile migrants don't have those (dreams). The 20-somethings just want to go skiing."

Barcus said there's a lot of job openings in Kootenai County, but the worker pool is shrinking. As a result, Kootenai County employers are drawing from Spokane more than he's seen in some time.

"We're seeing more traffic flowing east in the mornings and west in the afternoons," he said.

Barcus said with rampant growth, a light rail between the two cities should be on the radar.

"We'll need it to sustain orderly growth and so our kids and grandkids will be able to work here," he said. "We need the infrastructure in place, and automobiles isn't it. Light rail will be prohibitively expensive if we wait until the community is built out."

Housing starts are slowing, but not in places such as Kootenai County where jobs are growing, Barcus said.

"Kootenai County has continued to do well during the (housing) slowdown," Barcus said.

With business, Barcus believes entrepreneurs will see opportunity in providing the same services as where the new growth came from.

"When people come here, they want some of the same businesses as where they came from," he said, citing Panera Bread and The Limited clothing store as examples. "We're on the verge of a real awakening because people are expecting those types of amenities."

The strength of the Canadian dollar will mean good news to the local tourism industry this summer, Barcus said.

"We'll have double or triple the Canadian tourists we had in the last couple years," he said. "We're close, we have an attractive place to come to and they love to come here."

Barcus said he expects oil and gas prices to remain high this summer because not much is changing with supply and demand.

[Hub for an Empire]

^^^^ Good news about affordable housing in Northern Idaho!

To address the North-South Corridor, I do think the reason we have been getting funding for the project, is that Western Washington is finally realizing they have a problem with Gridlock....it's going to stiffle their growth in that area.......they want U.S. 97 and U.S. 395 and even U.S. 95 to be improved, since it's a way to get the truck traffic from Canada to California to bypass Interstate 5. I was listening to the DOT hearing a few years ago, about this move, on TVW.

[chepe]

On a different note, I stumbled across this today regarding the new Davenport Tower. http://www.thedavenporthotel.com/ind...act=towerfacts. This is the first I heard of the structure going over the 20 story mark. In fact, I had always heard 17-19 stories. Looking at the construction the floors appear to be closer together than those in the BOA or the Wells Fargo but in theory 21 stories could make this the tallest building in town.

[hcnate]

21 Floors - interesting.

I wonder if they are including floors that are below ground?

Sadly, there is a paucity of information regarding the physical size of this building. However, they are definitely building quickly.

[Hub for an Empire]

That is the first time I've seen that information also.

Walt might be holding back a surprise for the community that is will be 21 stories?...and tallest in Spokane? Still hard to believe it will be done by January???? It will be July in just over a week!

Safari Room........nice Inland Northwest touch there!

Come on VOX Tower!

Did everyone see the protest about the Rookery Block on the news on all three local networks tonight?

[SPOKANITE]

Originally Posted by Hub for an Empire

Safari Room........nice Inland Northwest touch there!

Uh-Oh. Looks like Walt and his wife are doing the design work on this one. YEEEEESH!

[Trebor of Spokane]

I had to pull over this evening on my way home from work and send a TEXT MSG to a friend and it happened to be in fron of the tower. so i got out and snaped a few pictures.

Notice in these pictures that some of the windows are already in. This building is going up really fast. I am sure they would not let Worthy build this tower if it was unsafe, but i just dont like the method they are using to build this. It looks like a lego construction project. All the pieces are built offsite and then lifted into place and welded & bolted together.

enjoy

[urbanlife]

Okay, this is why I think the Rookery block will be a parking lot for a long long time, what is the asking price right now? Wells offered for the final build, 4 million with .5 million up front and they turned that down.

His current asking price that he is holding strong with is currently 4.8 million with the buildings on it. With that price he has included "impovements" that he has had to pay for for the upkeep of the buildings (which I am doubting he has really done). Now if the demolishing goes through, these buildings come down and they put up a parking lot, which all cost money to do. They hope a buyer will come forward shortly after to buy the land. My question is what will that asking price be? Land value assessment is currently 1.55 million for all of the block that he owns without the buildings on it? Is his asking price still going to be about 5 million seeing that he doesn't raise that price to pay for the demolishing of these buildings? Or will they turn around and sell it off for 1.5 to 2 million? Which doesn't make sense seeing that Wells offered 4 million.

I hear this is prime real estate and that it will get bought up in no time, that so? Well currently there are two giant square shaped parking lots about a block from the Rookery site that are just as prime and just as vacant. If their asking price is lower, why would a developer pony up 5 million bucks for buildings that are not even there?



Also, bad news about the Davenport. I have a friend that works at the Davenport and no one knows if there is actually an architect working on it. If that is the case, it would mean he is designing it himself, which will probably mean it will look crappy. And from the looks of it in its current state, I am saying it isn't going to be one of Spokane's most memorable buildings.....I am just hoping it won't be Spokane's worst.

[sustainable]

well said spokanite -
unfortunately walt and his wife still really think that they have good ideas when it comes to design. Architects, Urban Designers, Interior Designers could all disagree, but Walt has decided to build a 21 story motor inn. I think that unfortunately to make matters worse he isn't even using central ac/heat and it appears that we're going to see stupid a/c vents all the way up the building. That is a joke of design.

[urbanlife]

that is what I was thinking sustainable

[InlandEmpire]

Last time I was in Spokane I noticed one thing about the Davenport Tower for sure: someone had said that Walt wanted it to mimic the look of the garage, and after standing on the street corner and looking at both buildings- they are right! The concrete panels being used to construct the tower look exactly the same as what's on the garage, except with the AC unit holes cut out. YIKES! This is a bad thing. Although.. I thought Bernardo-Wills was working on the design. It's already looking like that crappy rendering of we we've all seen. I hope someone puts up a kick-ass tower on the old Rookery site to counter how hideous I'm afraid the Davenport will turn out. The saddest thing would be for it to turn out bad and tarnish the good name the orginial Davenport Hotel has worked to establish. I love Spokane, but it looks like CDA's newest tower will be much more asthetically pleasing.

[urbanlife]

on a plus note, I really liked the convention center expansion. I took a bunch of pics while I was there this weekend. I just need to load them up on this computer and then onto flickr before posting them, so you should see them by the weekend.

[SPOKANITE]

Originally Posted by InlandEmpire

I love Spokane, but it looks like CDA's newest tower will be much more asthetically pleasing.

You nailed it IE! What is the deal? It has to be because the two markets (CDA & SPOK) are completely different and that drives the demand for well designed & pleasing towers across the border. Yes, Worthy gets things done, but if you look back at his development history, we shouldn't have expected much. He's made the majority of his $$$ developing stuff for government entities, and the days of public buildings like the Spokane County Courthouse are looooong gone.

Nice legacy Walt! You might as well have put in another Travelodge...it's going to be about the same from the design department.

[InlandEmpire]

I agree urbanlife- the convention center turned out really well! I even like the neon effect along the street at night.

[chepe]

I agree with the thoughts on the convention center and unfortunately with those on the new Davenport Tower. It appears Bernardo-Willis is the architecht on the project as they have a sign on the site. I agree with others on this board that Worthy deserves praise for actually getting things done as opposed to just talking about projects. He also deserves undying gratitude from the city for the restoration he did on the Davenport.

That said, the new tower looks like it will be quite unattractive. It looks like the holes in the facade are for individual HVAC units but I'm really hoping that is not the case, you just can't be a class hotel when you have a window HVAC unit. Also, I was surprised to see how small the windows were in some of the renderings that came out last year, particularly because the new trend in nice hotels seems to be large windows. I was hoping that the rendering was just misleading but it appeared to be very accurate. To be fair, the building isn't finished yet but at this point I'm almost hopining it isn't Spokane's tallest.