Powers admits to being his city's greatest booster. "Some accuse me of still campaigning, but that's OK. It is what I believe," he says with a smile. 

The new mayor, who practiced commercial law with an emphasis on credit, insolvency, and corporate reorganization before his election has work experience well suited to his role as Spokane's chief executive officer. Over the next couple of years he will be faced with the task of stitching together a coalition out of a formerly combative and divided city council. 

There is plenty of sincerity in Powers' glad handing and egalitarian joviality. At Spokane's city hall, no one gets past him without a cheery hello and a brief conversation. "Collaboration and inclusion begin at home," he says. "We have to get each and every citizen involved in deciding what Spokane will be in the 21st century. Consensus is what it is all about." 

The mayor's message of optimism and community empowerment is timely. The community is ready. There seems to be something in the air, a sense that something fundamental has changed for the better. 

Spokane Chamber of Commerce president Richard Hadley attributes this improved attitude to the election of Powers as Spokane's strong new mayor. Prior to the November 2000 election, the daily operation of the city was primarily in the hands of an appointed city manager. "We have had a change in attitude with the election of a strong mayor," he says. "People are a lot more optimistic." 

A new optimism
There are other reasons to be optimistic too. Downtown Spokane is in the midst of a construction boom with the infusion of $340 million in development money over the last two years. Projects range from the gutting and rebuilding of the historic Davenport Hotel — after it sat vacant for 15 years — to a variety of new projects. 

"We are really seeing the downtown core take off," says Hadley. "There is an excitement." 

The feeling is palpable and the signs are obvious. Throughout the city core, buildings that have been empty for years are being renovated and occupied. Existing shops and restaurants are full, and new high-end chains like Restoration Hardware, Abercrombie & Fitch, and the Pottery Barn are, for the first time, opening their doors to the Spokane public. 

The vacancy rate has dropped to less than 5 percent and, in addition to the renovations, new commercial real estate projects are being planned, including a $50 million office tower proposed for the corner of Howard and Riverside streets by property owner Wendell Reugh. 
That building alone will add 200,000 square feet of office space, plus 10,000 square feet of retail space. 

Downtown leads the way
In spite of the acrimony surrounding the public/private project (former mayor John Talbot and some city council members opposed the use of parking meter money to cover revenue shortfalls on a controversial parking garage), River Park Square has obviously succeeded in its primary task of jump-starting the downtown core's revitalization. 

Prior to the mall's opening in August 1999, the fate of the downtown core was in question. Major commercial leaseholders like JC Penney, Frederick and Nelson, and the Crescent department store had closed their doors, and revenues were off for the remaining retail businesses. "In the early 1990s, Spokane's downtown core was in trouble," says Betsy Cowles, president of River Park Square LLC, adding that private developers were reluctant to invest in what was perceived as a sinking ship. 

By 1994, the gross value of new building permits had sunk to $24 million, a sad comparison to the $194 million in 2000. "The downtown was a very scary place to own a business back then," confesses Don Barbieri, CEO of WestCoast Hospitality Corp., which owns several Spokane properties. "We were looking at a probable write-down of property values." 

In response to the crisis, Cowles and several other business leaders looked at how other cities across the country had successfully revitalized their downtown cores. Based on their findings, they began to formulate a plan that culminated in the building of River Park Square. "The project has added more than 1,000 new jobs and contributes to the city an annual $18 million in taxes and fees," says Cowles. She notes that gross sales were up 30 percent in 2000 and revenues almost doubled from the last three months of 1999 to the last three months of 2000. 

One indication of increased daytime traffic is parking meter use. Revenues have increased from $1.3 million in 1997 to $1.9 million in 2000. Similar increases have been tracked in sales tax revenues and property assessments. A gauge of evening mall use is the attendance at its 20-screen AMC theater. In March 2001, it was the highest attended AMC theater in the state, and it regularly places in the top three. 
The AMC theater manager isn't the only one smiling. TicketsWest, a subsidiary of WestCoast Hospitality, is also pleased with its receipts. In spite of a nationwide economic downturn, attendance at live theater and entertainment events in TicketWest's downtown venues remains firm. CEO Barbieri is encouraged by the support the community has shown for the restoration of the Fox Theater. The 1930s art deco structure, recently purchased by the Spokane Symphony, has a seating capacity that fits nicely between a small performance hall like Spokane's Met Theater and the larger Spokane Opera House. 

As a key player in Spokane's hospitality industry, Barbieri sees the importance of building on Spokane's recent successes. 
With the downtown revitalized and the presence of anchor stores like Nordstom and the Bon Marché secured for the foreseeable future, Barbieri believes it is time to move ahead with plans for a $72 million convention facility expansion that would accommodate large-scale events normally relegated to cities like Denver and Seattle. "Meeting planners throughout the country view Spokane very favorably with its visual appeal, its Riverfront Park, and its safe, walkable streets," says Barbieri. "This new facility is going to make sure the larger conventions will not be forced to bypass Spokane."  

 
Building a diverse economic base
For John Powers, the challenge over the next several years is to turn his city's newfound vitality into a sustained growth that will benefit every segment of Spokane's population. "The first step is to get all of our citizens involved in creating a vision for our future," he says, adding that this is particularly important in low income areas where residents have been marginalized by poverty. 
Sheila Collins, business owner, Spokane Chamber of Commerce board member, and civic activist, agrees that the first step is to get neighborhood people involved in determining the community's future. She believes that, through local action committees established in the 1990s, a broad consensus is emerging.

 To implement change, Powers is calling for the creation of a state-sanctioned community empowerment zone — a designation that would give tax breaks to businesses for locating in some of the city's poorest neighborhoods. "We have to grow the wealth from within," he says. "We have to be exporting goods, services, and technology so we are bringing in dollar bills from outside our community." 
Powers feels that the resource-based service industry that has supported Spokane for more than a century is not enough if the aspirations of all of its citizens are to be met. "Our goal is to have the healthiest city in the region, with the highest standard of living, the lowest poverty, the best infrastructure, and the very best quality of life," he says. "To achieve this, we are starting to see young entrepreneurs emerge who will help move this city forward." 

Keith Bergman, an attorney who has been practicing patent law in Spokane for more than 30 years, sees this already happening. He has noticed a fundamental change in his clientele in recent years. "Mining, forestry, and farming have shifted to computers and other high-tech industries," he says. "These new inventors are mostly entrepreneurial types who are more likely to start their own company than to sell or license an idea." 

Wired for the new millennium
Mark Turner, president of the Spokane Area Economic Development Council, sees these home-grown entrepreneurs as critical to Spokane's long-term success. "We are making a real strong commitment to nurture technology growth from within the community," he says, adding that one of the most exciting plans being implemented is the Terabyte Triangle — a 30-square-block section of the downtown core that is wired with state-of-the-art, high-speed fiber optics. "Right now in the triangle, we have unparalleled telecommunications services. That doesn't just apply to the region, but to the entire country." 

In addition to critical physical infrastructure, Turner sees the continued support of the colleges, institutes, and universities throughout Spokane, as well as the recent creation of the Inland Northwest Technology Education Center (INTEC), as extremely important to Spokane's technology-based growth strategy. Founded by a consortium of higher education and business interests, INTEC will focus on the customized training needs of high-tech employers, in particular the small and emerging ones. 

One industry that is sure to benefit from INTEC and Spokane's other high-tech learning centers is health care. 
For 100 years, Spokane has been the health care center for the region, offering services and procedures unduplicated in the northern tier states from Minneapolis to Seattle. "With an aging population, we are seeing a growing demand for health services from throughout the region," says Powers. "It will be one of Spokane's key growth industries over the next 20 years." 

Located within the downtown core, the region's two largest hospitals are bracing for the downpour. 
The Deaconess Health and Education Center is already adding four floors — 88,000 square feet — to its building at a cost of $24.4 million, and Spokane's other downtown hospital, Sacred Heart, is planning a $100 million building expansion, including a four-story, 61-unit hotel for out-of-town patients and their families. 

Preserving the gems
One of the risks of urban revitalization is the loss of a city's character through the destruction of its landmark buildings, says Ron Wells, a developer who has revitalized dozens of Spokane's historic buildings and admits he would rather restore than raze. Over the past decade, Wells and several other Spokane-based entrepreneurs have worked to save the city's unique architectural heritage. "There is no city of its size in the U.S. that has more potential for historic restoration," he says. 

This applies, in particular, to Spokane's downtown core, which was spared, to a great degree, the urban renewal frenzy of the 1960s that turned many of the country's finest historic buildings into parking lots. As a result, developers with a penchant for preserving the historic are wading into Spokane's downtown core with a creative zeal unmatched since Expo 1974. 

In the public sector, Spokane's 90-year-old downtown high school, Lewis and Clark, has just emerged from a two-year, $40 million restoration and expansion. The building selected to house the 1,000-plus students during the renovation was itself a 93-year-old downtown structure that had been gutted and restored at a cost of $3 million. The temporary high school now houses a combination of leased high-tech office space and a small technology-oriented high school designed to introduce Spokane's students to a 21st-century business environment. 
In the private sector, Walt Worthy's $50 million restoration of Spokane's landmark Davenport Hotel stands as one of the city's most ambitious renovation efforts. But throughout the core, dozens of smaller renewal projects are either now finished and open for business or are in the process of being completed. These include Well's Steam Plant Square, a unique blend of retail, dining, and office space renovated at a cost of $4.5 million; and his Morgan Block, an apartment-to-office space conversion that will cost $7.75 million to complete. 

One of the newest renovation-type undertakings in the works is the City Terminal Project — one square block of turn-of-the-century buildings just south of the newly restored Fox Theater. The developers are in the process of creating a downtown arts, entertainment, and residential district at an estimated cost of $3 million. 

Spokane: yesterday, today, and tomorrow
In the February 2001 Utne Reader, author Peter Katz rated Spokane as number six in his article "The 10 Most Underrated Towns in America."  It was an article of hope, potential, and revitalization — an ode to America's newly rediscovered love of urban space. In it, Katz referred to Spokane's downtown as a historic treasure — 80 blocks of mostly intact early 20th-century buildings. Spokane was the only city west of Texas that he selected. 

John Powers is not surprised. As a transplant from Wisconsin, he recalls what originally drew him to Spokane two decades ago. "We have a love of tradition and history that is very midwestern," he says, noting that it is the antithesis of what is known as western sprawl. "Combine that with our desire to change for the better, and nothing can stop us." 

Ed Haag is a Spokane-area freelance writer. 

Old Glory
One of Spokane's most distinguished landmarks is in the process of being restored to its former glory. 
By Ed Haag 

For more than 60 years, the Davenport Hotel was known as Spokane's living room. But the once upscale downtown hostelry — a 1914, 400-room, Kirkland Cutter classic — was looking more like someone's neglected broom closet when it came up for sale last year. Vacant for more than 15 years, all it needed was some tender loving care and about $50 million. 

Enter Walt and Karen Worthy, one of Spokane's most successful development couples. "We like a challenge," says Walt, smiling. 
Karen adds that they used to eat at the Davenport before it closed its doors in 1985. And when it came on the market, both she and her husband thought it would be the perfect project. 

Since their purchase of the Davenport, the renovation has been a work in progress, admits Walt. With a crew of nearly 80 workmen and subcontractors, the Worthys have immersed themselves in the $50 million renovation project. In an effort to refine their vision for the Davenport, the couple has visited every major historic hotel in the nation from the Peabody in Memphis, Tenn., to the Biltmore in Coral Gables, Fla. "What we learned is that the Davenport is one of the finest examples in existence from this era," says Walt. "When it is restored, it will stand up to the best of them." 

The Worthys have also drawn upon the local population for their recollections of the old Davenport. "Almost everyone we have talked to has personal memories of the place," says Karen. "Whether it is having a relative who worked here or attending a high school prom." 
Although most of the hotel's identifying features — from its palatial lobby and reception rooms to its unique mezzanine with ornate wall relief — have been preserved, some elements were beyond saving. For example, its 112-year-old, two-story Pennington wing — a separate building predating the hotel — has been demolished to make way for a new structure in a mission style similar to the original. A covered, drive-up entryway will be added, as well as a grand ballroom. 

The Worthys are also making major changes to the guest rooms, stripping them down to the studs and reconfiguring them. "We are going to scale back from 400 rooms to about 290," says Walt. "They are going to be bigger and nicer than the originals." 

The new rooms, which will rent for under $200 per night, will come with high-speed Internet access and a personal safe for the storage of valuables and electronics. Bathrooms will feature granite counter tops, luxury tubs, and showers.  The Worthys expect to be renting rooms the first quarter of 2002. Banquet and reception facilities will be available for this Christmas season. — Ed Haag 

Everyone's Auntie
Auntie's bookstore remains one of Spokane's cultural focal points. 
By Ed Haag 

All great cities have one. Portland has Powell's; Denver has the Tattered Cover; Seattle has the Elliot Bay Book Co.; and Spokane has Auntie's. 

And like all great city book stores, Auntie's, located in downtown's historic Liberty Building, is a reader's mecca. It is as much about the community it serves as it is about selling books. 

Readers in search of obscure titles turn to Auntie's 28,000 square feet of new and used books. Poets wishing to have their work heard read at Auntie's. And ordinary citizens just wanting to be immersed in the world of books or to meet a favorite author go to Auntie's.  Auntie's is, in short, the literary epicenter of the Inland Northwest. 

On his book tours, best selling author and Spokane resident Pat McManus has visited almost every major bookstore in the country and he views Auntie's as one of the best. "The store is definitely one of the cultural focal points for Spokane," he says, adding that it offers a writing community that is scattered throughout the region a single place to meet and interact. " 

Auntie's program coordinator Mitch Findley recognizes his store's dual role as a seller of books and a nurturer of literary talent. "We have the three to four readings a week; approximately 30 percent are major authors on tour, and the rest are local writers," he says. "As long as there is an Auntie's, readers and writers in Spokane and the outlying area will have a place they can call their own."  — Ed Haag 
 

Everything for Everyone
Spokane's General Store is a niche player in just about every niche possible. 
By Ed Haag 
There is an old saying in Spokane: "If you can't get it at the General Store, you can't get it anywhere." 

The General Store, a 50-year institution, personifies the mercantile spirit that has built and sustained Spokane. 

In an age dominated by Wal-Marts, K-Marts, and other merchants of predictability, this flourishing family operation, located just north of the downtown business district, has preserved market share by listening to its customers and giving them exactly what they want. The goal has always been to keep the shelves full of merchandise and the aisles full of customers. 

On any given day, a walk through the store will expose you to a broad cross section of Spokane's population, all seeking out and finding merchandise unavailable elsewhere. "We offer the products and services the chain stores can't deliver," says Bruce Barany, who shares responsibility for operating the single, one-square-block store with his father, Bill senior, and brother, Bill junior.  

Whether it is XXXL-sized thermal underwear for the railroaders and loggers or the right fishing set-up for a specific Inland lake, the owners and their employees have their markets pinpointed. "Our managers are asked to give us lists of niche products that are asked for but are not generally available," says Bruce. "Every one of them is an expert on the products sold in their departments." 

"It takes top management to compete with the big chain retailers these days," says Peter Stanton, chairman of Spokane's Washington Trust Bank, which has been providing the General Store with banking services since 1946. "There is no question that is what we see in the Barany family." 

Bruce notes that his family's store is offering expertise as well as selling merchandise. From automotive parts to paint ball guns, the staff are specialists in their fields. "Our customers count on us for answers to their questions," he says, admitting that wages for knowledgeable staff are well above scale, helping to keep the store's employee turnover low. "We have managed to hang on to the best." 

To locate and stock niche products, the store belongs to several buying organizations. The partners also attend about a dozen trade shows each year. "It is not our choice of things to do," says Bruce, smiling. "But you have to keep moving if you are going to stay up there with the competition." 
— Ed Haag 

Haute Cuisine, Hot Cuisine
The resurgence in commercial activity in downtown Spokane has led to a flurry of restaurant openings. 
By Ed Haag 
Recently, visitors to Spokane's downtown have been confronted with a pleasant dilemma. How does one select a restaurant out of hundreds of choices? 
"Spokane's downtown has the highest concentration of restaurants in the region," says Mike Edwards, president of the Downtown Spokane Partnership (DSP). "We not only have the number and variety, but we also definitely have the quality." 
One of Edwards' mandates as head of DSP is to track restaurant activity in Spokane's core. "Through last year, the downtown restaurant scene has expanded by 1,200 seats," he says. 
Several regional chain restaurants like Red Robin and the Sawtooth Grill have established a presence in the area, along with some unique local establishments like Twigs Bistro in River Park Square and the Steam Plant Grill in the Steam Plant Square. 
In spite of that increase and a nationwide downturn in the economy, downtown restaurateurs are reporting steady to brisk business. 
Edwards sees the revitalization of the downtown core as a major contributing factor in the continued success of Spokane's restaurant scene. As more businesses relocate to the core, daytime restaurant activities increase. As options for entertainment downtown increase — from the renovation of the Fox Theater to the successful opening of River Park Square's AMC theater — evening restaurant trade also increases. 
One area where Spokane excels is the special occasion and upscale restaurant category, says Edwards. This includes a broad variety of dining experiences from the contemporary vegetarian-style cooking of Mizuna's Restaurant and Wine Bar to the gourmet specialties of Spencer's Restaurant. 
As the revitalization of Spokane's downtown core continues, Edwards foresees continued growth in its haute cuisine. 
— Ed Haag