03/17/2003 
Associated Press Newswires 
Copyright 2003. The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. 
 

"2002 was the year we realized we were really experiencing a renaissance downtown," said Jeff Warner, chairman of a downtown business advisory board. "In the last seven years we've witnessed nearly $1 billion in investment in the downtown area." 

Much of that money was spent on new construction. But a hefty amount was poured into buildings that date as far back as the 1890s. 

Spokane, which has about 200,000 residents, led the state in the number of historic preservation tax breaks developers received last year. The city had 13 projects that garnered more than $27 million in breaks reserved for buildings on historic registers. Five more applications are pending this year. 

The rest of the state combined had only $30 million in such special breaks in 2002, including $19 million for seven projects in Seattle and $8 million for seven more in Tacoma. 

Saving downtown is something of an obsession in Spokane, which like many cities experienced retail flight to outlying malls. One big reason for the interest is Spokane's big inventory of old stone and brick buildings. 

Spokane was born rich and grew quickly, and the timber, mining and farming barons who flocked to the city in the early 1900s poured their fortunes into gorgeous structures. The city even had its own signature architect in Kirtland Cutter, who designed many elegant buildings. 

Landmarks like the Davenport Hotel and the Fox Theater were architectural gems that served the region for decades before losing their economic viability. 

The 1974 World's Fair provided a boost to downtown, especially in cleaning up and beautifying the Spokane River area. But by the early 1990s, downtown Spokane was a moribund collection of shuttered hotels, closed department stores and little nightlife. 
Alarmed civic and business leaders launched an effort to save the city's core. What emerged was a combination of new construction, like the $100 million River Park Square shopping mall, and rehabs like the $36 million reopening of the 282-room Davenport Hotel. 

River Park Square, which is a combination of new and rehabbed buildings, helped convince big players like Nordstrom and The Bon Marche to remain downtown. The mall bucked national trends by posting 4 percent higher sales in 2002 than 2001. 

Betsy Cowles, whose real estate development company built River Park Square and is heavily invested in downtown property, said the recent improvements can be seen block by block. 

"There's an energy downtown that wasn't there several years ago," Cowles said. "There is more to do in Spokane than there was five years ago." 

Spokane is the biggest city for hundreds of miles in all directions, and has long lured shoppers and tourists from surrounding areas. Downtown is often the first place they go. 

Rob Brewster, a developer who has completed several high profile downtown projects, said the rush to rehab is fueled in part by lower prices for old buildings in downtown Spokane compared to larger cities. 

His projects range from art galleries to high-tech office space to an old-fashioned billiard hall. 

Even old bridges are getting a facelift in Spokane. The 90-year-old Monroe Street Bridge, which connects the north and south banks of the Spokane River, is closed for a 2-year, $20 million reconstruction all the way down to its main arches. 

Now developers are turning their attention to building homes for urban pioneers who don't seek the comfort of suburban life. 

"Residential housing has been the missing element in downtown Spokane's current renaissance," said Mike Edwards, president of the Downtown Spokane Partnership. 

The business group commissioned a study that showed downtown Spokane should be able to support 1,500 new dwelling units downtown over the next five years. The target audience is young singles or childless couples, empty-nesters and urban-oriented families. 

The large inventory of old buildings provide "great bones" for loft apartments and other residential rehabs, said Laurie Volk of the New Jersey consulting firm Zimmerman/Volk Associates, which performed the downtown study. 

"You're lucky you didn't experience a boom in '90s," Volk said. "In cities that did, a lot of these old buildings came down." 

One current project is converting a 92-year-old industrial building into 11 loft condominiums. Those units, priced from $110,000 to $195,000, sold before rehab work even began. 

Brewster is preparing to announce that he will create a 150-unit apartment complex downtown out of a mix of old and new buildings. 

"It will be the largest housing project in decades in downtown Spokane," he said. 
A key component of downtown's boom has been the emergence of the arts. 

The Spokane Symphony has purchased the old art deco Fox Theater and is raising money for a $25 million restoration that will make it a centerpiece of a growing arts district that includes numerous galleries. 

A Boise concert promoter recently announced that a block of office buildings just west of the Davenport Hotel will be renovated into a 1,500-seat concert hall and dance club. The proposed Big Easy Concert House will cost more than $7 million and will open by the end of 2003. 

One of the more interesting current projects involves the six-story Legion Building. The brick French Revival edifice with impressive columns is getting a new, towering crown roof as part of a $4 million facelift. 

The building had long fallen into disrepair, but developer Steve Schmautz said its location and architecture made it worth saving. And many tenants are more interesting in moving into a landmark building than a glass box, he said. 

"It could really be something," Schmautz said.