Saturday, November 21, 2009

ONGOING COVERAGE: KENDALL YARDS

Here's the dirt

Parking garage considered for Davenport District

Parker Howell
Staff writer
May 2, 2008

A 250-stall downtown parking garage under consideration by Spokane Partners LLC could help alleviate parking headaches for theater and restaurant patrons in the Davenport District.

The company, which owns much of the First Avenue block containing CenterStage and the New Madison Apartments, will assess over the next several months whether the multi-story garage with retail space would be feasible, said owner representative Steve Elliott, of Seattle. The garage would replace a surface parking lot adjacent to the Railside Center condominiums and the railroad trestle along Madison Street. The lot is behind the New Madison, which Spokane contractor RenCorp is renovating into apartments and retail space.

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Spokane Partners would not manage the garage, he said.

"We've been thinking about it for at least a year and a half, and we're now just sort of trying to get it designed and put together and financed," Elliott said. "As we build out our buildings and we look to see the old Otis built out and other projects … we see the whole infrastructure west of Monroe building up and needing to be filled in."

"All of a sudden, there appears to be a demand."

RenCorp, which handled many of Spokane Partners' projects on the block, will not be involved with the garage, said principal owner Chris Batten.

A new bar could open in the former 24 Hour Fitness building on West Riverside Avenue this fall, said Mark McLees, a sales and leasing agent with NAI Black.

Owned by commercial appraiser Scot Auble and his father, David, the three-story building, 718 W. Riverside Ave., also will receive a facelift and upstairs expansion, McLees said. It's been vacant since 24 Hour Fitness became Oz Fitness and moved to the renovated J.C. Penney building in 2006.

NAI Black has listed the building for rent or for sale for $1.45 million.

The building went back on the market last winter after being under contract with Spokane developer Jeff Smith, who had planned a 17-story condo tower.

The unspecified bar would take up the rear two-thirds of the main floor, with a couple of small retail spaces fronting Riverside. Plans call for office and retail on upper floors and skywalk access. Rehabbing the building, which once housed the Liberty Theater, is expected to cost about $750,000.

"The whole front of our building is going to be glass," he said. "We're just going to have a lot of light coming in."

Another major potential development partner for Kendall Yards has fallen through.

Coeur d'Alene-based Black Rock Development had been negotiating with $2.2 billion real estate development company The Opus Group on "joint-venturing" the mixed-use project north of the Spokane River near downtown. That deal is "probably off the table at this point," although the company still might be involved with certain portions, said Black Rock CEO Marshall Chesrown.

"Not every deal is a doable deal," he said.

Black Rock, known for its upscale residential developments, wanted the Minneapolis-based group's expertise in commercial development. Representatives of The Opus Group declined to comment.

"Obviously, the market is different than it was," Chesrown said. "But it's still a magnificent piece of land. … Everything is moving along, and I think we're right on schedule."

Cypress Equities, a national company that had planned to partner financially with Black Rock on the first phase, backed out last year. Negotiations continue with other possible partners, and Black Rock is "pretty close" to an agreement, Chesrown said.

A Red Lobster seafood restaurant is expected to be part of the new Northtown Square development at the corner of East Wellesley Avenue and North Division Street next spring.

Orlando, Fla.-based Darden Restaurants Inc., which operates Red Lobster, had been looking to enter the Spokane market, settling on the boutique commercial center that will replace a Wendle auto dealership there, said John Stejer, a managing member of Northtown Square LLC. Demolition of the dealership started Thursday, he said.

The nearest Red Lobster is in Coeur d'Alene, though Darden operates an Olive Garden downtown.

Starbucks also plans a drive-through outlet at Northtown Square, Stejer said.

A local couple intends to open a day spa in what remains of the former Cucina Cucina Italian Cafe space in the Crescent Court building downtown.

Nectar Spa, run by Tola and Michelle Rogalski, would occupy about 4,000 square feet of the ground-level retail space on Wall Street the Italian restaurant vacated in 2003. Coffee shop Madeleine's Café & Pâtisserie and Pita Pit take up the remainder.

Other possible building tenants include a high-end shoe and handbag shop and a boutique dress store that would import products, said Chris Siemens, a leasing specialist for NAI Black. Those deals might be finished over the next six months, he said.

Siemens credits the opening earlier this year of the Melting Pot fondue restaurant on the building's second floor with fueling interest in the 237,503-square-foot building, which Fowler Property Acquisitions, of San Francisco, acquired in 2005 for nearly $20 million.