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Post by Admin on May 10, 2010 12:09:36 GMT -8
The Spokane / Spokane County Development Thread will focus on developments, urban issue's, and community planning within Spokane County. Discuss, share photos, have fun.
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Post by Admin on May 16, 2010 12:29:50 GMT -8
Vacancies on Sprague continue to worsen05/7/2010 Spokane Valley Herald By MIKE HUFFMAN Managing Editor
A leisurely drive by the boarded-up windows and vacant storefronts reveals the obvious: Sprague Avenue isn’t exactly bustling with economic activity. And, according to a recent update of a 4-year-old study conducted by ECONorthwest – a Portland, Ore.-based consulting firm – things will likely get worse before they get better on Spokane Valley’s main commercial thoroughfare.
That’s not good economic news, considering the original study concluded that the portion of Sprague that runs through Spokane Valley will only see a demand of 40,000 square feet of commercial space per year for the next 20 years.
“The findings in the 2006 study are still probably justified,” Greg
McCormick, planning division manager, told the City Council during Tuesday’s study session. “If it were conducted today, the demand (for commercial space) would be lower – maybe 10 percent.”
Council members requested an update on the 2006 study, as it was one of the catalysts for the Sprague-Appleway Revitalization Plan, adopted last year, which had been designed as a way to deal with some of those problems by offering new uses for property along the corridor. However, many of the new council members elected last November have long maintained that the “cure” of SARP is worse than the sickness of vacancies afflicting Sprague.
Tuesday’s check-up on the ECONorthwest study was the first of a several-step overview of SARP that the council will be conducting during the next few months in order to prepare for the 2011 annual comprehensive plan review. The city attorney has said that is the only legal defensible way to make any drastic changes to the SARP.
Council members had no real quarrel with the results, which – in 2006 -- stated that city planners can expect requests about 21,000 feet of retail space and 19,000 feet for office use each year. But with the bad economy, those results will likely be lower for the foreseeable future and land values will continue to drop due to the oversupply of commercial space. In the greater Spokane area, Spokane Valley has 40 percent of the commercial space and 60 percent of vacant retail property, city planner said.
In 2006, Spokane Valley had 5.5 million square feet of available commercial space.
The findings of the 2006 study can be found on the city’s Web site, www.spokanevalley.org.
The city’s Web page was also the subject of discussion Tuesday, as a new version will go online beginning June 14. In 2008, city officials learned its Internet hot, NextIT, would be abandoning the software for managing context on the site.
The new provider, Qscend Technologies Inc., will allow the city to keep its domain name and retain many of the key features, such as the online polls and surveys that are prominent now, said Carolbelle Branch, the city’s public information officer. Improved navigation, photo galleries and the availability of city documents for public-information request purposes will all be highlights of the colorful new site.
Testing and public workshops to demonstrate the new Web page’s capabilities will be held May 24-28.
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Post by Admin on Jan 27, 2014 17:33:03 GMT -8
More Apartment Growth Planned for Spokane's Riverstone AreaSpokane Journal of Business Jan 27, 14 Hayden developer Whitewater Creek Inc. has obtained permits to build two apartment complexes, with 152 living units combined and a total construction valuation of $13 million, in the Riverstone mixed-use community in northwest Coeur d’Alene, city records there show.
Whitewater Creek is acting as its own contractor on both projects, and ZBA Architecture PS, of Spokane, designed them. L&S Engineering Associates Inc. and Coffman Engineers Inc., both of Spokane, are providing engineering services on both projects.
Todd Prescott, president of Whitewater Creek, couldn’t be reached for comment.
Mark King, a principal at ZBA, says both projects will be completed next summer.
The larger of the two projects will be the $9.8 million, 114-unit Riverstone Place apartment complex, plans at the city show. The complex will take up most of the inside of John’s Loop, which connects in two places to Riverstone Drive in the western half of the 160-acre Riverstone development.
The Riverstone Place project will include five three-story apartment buildings with a total of 125,300 square feet of living space, a single-story 2,700-square-foot community building, and 16 single-story garages with a total of 22,200 square feet of covered space.
The other apartment project, Riverstone West III, is a $3.2 million, 38-unit affordable-housing development that will be located at the southwest corner of John’s Loop and Suzanne Road.
The Riverstone West III project site is across John’s Loop from the Riverstone Place project site. The Riverstone West III site also is next to the $7 million, 50-unit Riverstone West apartment complex that Whitewater Creek developed two years ago, at 2238 W. John’s Loop.
The Riverstone West III project will include two three-story apartment buildings, with a total of 40,000 square feet of living space and a single-story, 2,700-square-foot community building.
The community buildings in both projects will include community rooms, laundry facilities, and managers’ of-fices, King says.
They also will have patio space for tenants and children’s outdoor play amenities.
Lake City Development Corp., which is Coeur d’Alene’s ur-ban renewal agency, has agreed to reimburse Whitewater Creek up to $280,000 to develop a 1.4-acre public park as part of the Riverstone West III project, says Tony Berns, LCDC’s executive director.
The park, which eventually will be maintained by the city of Coeur d’Alene, will be on city-owned property on the west edge of the Riverstone West III site, next to the Centennial Trial.
The developer has proposed to include a shelter, a dog park, trail improvements, and a water-conservation demonstration garden at the park, LCDC documents show.
Though the park is a small part of the planned development, LCDC’s financial commitment to the project qualifies as community support, fulfilling a key requirement that makes the Riverstone West III project eligible for low-income housing tax credits through the Idaho Housing and Finance Association, the developer claimed in documents submitted to LCDC.
The affordable housing component for Riverstone West III is vital to proceeding with the larger Riverstone Place project, Whitewater Creek also asserted.
The Riverstone West III project will be targeted toward residents earning 40 percent to 50 percent of the median area income, which equates to annual income of $15,480 to $29,850, depending on family size, LCDC documents show.
Monthly rent for one- to three-bedroom units there will range from $347 to $614, LCDC documents show.
Berns says he can’t speak to the rent schedule for Riverstone Place, because LCDC has no financial involvement in that project.
Whitewater Creek has been involved in numerous multifamily projects in recent years.
The company, acting as the contractor for nonprofit Spokane Housing Ventures, is putting finishing touches on the $20 million Clare View project on the South Hill, which ZBA also designed, King says.
That project includes constructing 61 new senior apartment units in five buildings at 3146 E. 44th, and rehabilitating the nearby 124-unit Clare House Apartments Complex, at 4827 E. Palouse Highway.
Whitewater Creek also recently completed the $10 million, 50-unit Milltown Apartments, a low-income rental housing complex erected in Sandpoint, Idaho, also designed by ZBA.
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