MetroSpokane

Billy Loves Lisa

We had to do it.  There they stand.  Silently watching the city as they have been for who knows how long.  The years pass, the city grows, and these magnificent structures, while contributing to our sense of place, are probably the least noted.  If you haven't guessed, we're talking about the granary elevators that dot Spokane's skyline to the east.  Unless you're a new-comer here, they blend in nearly enough that they cease to exist; surfacing only on the off chance that you find yourself on east Trent Ave. or heading north across I-90 on Arthur St.

Certainly the Spokesman Review Tower and the former ONB Building are fine examples of corporate pride and power realized in architecture. However, to us the grain elevators are equally as impressive and we'd argue still contribute to the persona of Spokane as an agricultural hub.  And while a few remain in productive use, the others sit idle contributing little other than to give our skyline some texture, or the brave boyfriend a canvas to demonstrate the depth of his feelings.  Most of the mills that we present here were designed for utility, but a few supplemented utility with ample decorative touches that are on par with any one of the historic structures in our urban core.

They are a substantial symbol of Spokane's origins and deserve an equal footing with our other prominent structures.  It's hard to say what their future use will be.  A reader reminded us recently that the old Coast Trading Co. granary complex closest to the central business district was purchased last year for $775,000.  Whatever their fate, we're just hopeful that they'll remain for many more years to come.

View the Slideshow

Like nothing in the United States...

That is how Marshall Chesrown characterizes the site his company, Black Rock Development, owns and plans to build out over the next five to ten years.  He speaks the truth.  Consider the following:

• A mile and a half of riverfront property
• A location that's literally across the street from downtown
• Two bridges
• Walking distance to five parks
• And now seventy-eight acres of clean buildable soil

No doubt, the attributes of the site are second to none, but what also makes this site unlike anything else in the country is the assessment and cleanup activity that has taken place over the past twelve months.  This morning the City sponsored a toned-down ceremony of sorts marking a significant milestone that is the former brownfield's clean bill of health.  At least sixty people and plenty of press listened to a number of speakers representing the parties involved in the cleanup (EPA, CTED, Ecology, The Spokane Tribe, West Central Neighborhood, The City of Spokane, and Black Rock Development). 

If the project gets the green light, building could begin within a few months, and Phase one construction between Monroe Street and Maple Street could be complete within...gasp...eighteen months.  If you're skeptical about the impact this project will have on Spokane, consider that if built out as planned, Kendall Yards will be one of the most dense neighborhoods in the State of Washington.  Density unto itself is just a number, but density with good design makes for places we care about.  We think that's pretty cool.

Some facts to consider about the cleanup:

• Largest single brownfields cleanup ever
• Fastest cleanup of a brownfields site of this scale - 12 months
• 233,000 tons of low-level contaminated soil removed
• Over 7,600 truckloads of soil removed
• An excellent example of public-private partnerships working together towards a final objective

The Four Structures Spokane Loves? Hates?

A few months back we highlighted some of what we considered the best opportunity sites for redevelopment in the City.  One of those areas contained the parcels owned by Heylman Properties.  Some readers may not be aware of Mr. Heylman and his firm's (Heylman-Martin Architects) impact on the skyline of Spokane.   Specifically he is responsible for at least four of the most readily identifiable structures in the city:

• The Parkade & Skywalks
• The Spokane Regional Health Building
• The Riverfalls Tower Apartments

His structures are prominent not only for their siting, but also because they tend to be so very different from everything else around them.  Leafing through the Downtown Spokane Plan the other day led us to a small rendering of a Heylman project on Riverside Avenue that never really quite materialized...and it is a biggie (see the last image in the slideshow below). While we are not sure why this was, it did give us some idea of what had been considered at one time for a site that has some amazing development potential.

As a major contributor to Spokane's skyline, we felt it important to present some of Mr. Heylman's past work.  So yesterday we took a brief visit to some of his projects.  Though we know that architecture is as much about the interior of a structure as it is the exterior, our photos focus primarly on the latter.

Launch Heylman-Martin Architects Slideshow