An interesting article appeared in the Syracuse Post-Standard last fall. The author, Bruce Katz-Director of the Brookings Institution Metropolitan Policy Program, takes a look at a key strategy of the New York Govenor: Strive to attract at least 2 percent of each metropolitan area's population to live downtown. Some times simple is best. Such a strategy would have a dramatic effect on revitalizing many of Upstate New York's lagging metropolitan areas.
Continue reading "Consider what 2% could do for Spokane..." »
The latest home-apartment-condo conversion we've heard of will be taking place literally on the tip of the south hill. Ladies and gentelmen, behold the Cathedral Point (no 'e') Condos. This project will boast four shell units and should vaguely resemble the original building once the carnage construction is complete. From the renderings, it appears St. John's Cathedral will be moved from its present location to the east, to a better spot tucked behind the condos. Something about improving the view.
Continue reading "Cathedral Point Condos: St. John's to be relocated..." »
Despite being over 57 square miles in area (San Francisco-47 square miles), Spokane isn't a very large city (pop. 200,000+/-). This makes for a challenging situation when trying to create places that are vibrant and dynamic. Put another way, few places here have that natural density that enables the kinds of activity you might see on a Capitol Hill or Queen Anne commercial district. These places have densities high enough to allow a good amount of interaction between people. Add in some quality urban design and suddenly your neighborhood is on its way.
Continue reading "Deep Thoughts - Are Spokane's activity Centers too spread out?" »
Well the Davenport Tower is nearly complete, so we hoofed it down to 1st and Post to take a look. The DT is an easy target - It's big, boxy, and would likely give Kirtland Cutter a stroke if he saw it. According to an article in Spokane7, "The investment was made on the inside." We couldn't agree more.
Continue reading "Davenport Tower - Concrete is our friend" »
Searching around the web the other day, we found this image for a project called the Lincoln Tower. We never heard of it, but we like it. It looks to be 22+ stories and an overall striking design, borrowing some influence from our fav Lincoln Building to the east.
Continue reading "Lincoln Tower...hunh?" »
In the spirit of last week's post about the costs of condos in downtown Spokane, we decided to look even deeper into how the price of a unit is allocated across the living space and the parking space. The rule for downtown condo development currently is that the developer will provide you with at least one parking space.
Few if any people looking into living downtown think twice about what that parking spot is really costing them because it is conveniently bundled into the overall price. We decided to unbundle the cost of parking for a few units currently for sale & rent downtown and
calculate what people are being charged for the convenience of
secured-covered parking.
Continue reading "Unbundling the costs of parking" »
Before the Waste to Energy Plant on the West Plains there was the Hoyt's Smokestack greeting visitors to Spokane. Nowdays, the Hoyt smokestack in the Garden Springs area still is the first major landmark you see as you approach downtown Spokane.
Continue reading "On the Market: Hoyt's Smokestack + 4 acres" »
The posting on the Iron Bridge Condos last week, gathered a couple comments from our readers alarmed at the prices for the shell units. We don't have any data, but the perception of most people is that of all the downtown residential development, most of it has been biased towards the high end. So, we hit the MLS to find the lowest priced 'completed' condo on the market in the central business district (CBD).
Continue reading "Downtown's most affordable condos..." »
Well that didn't take long. A little over two months since it shuttered its doors and the abandoned Safeway building on 3rd and Maple is on the fast track to blight. Some might say it's already arrived. The store was never the pride and joy of the organization, and as far back as we can remember it had always been a little rough around the edges.
Continue reading "Safeway out...Urban Decay in..." »
The best thing about the resurgence in urban living in Spokane is the creative reuse of former industrial properties. Last week we received an email from the developer of a unique building located on the Spokane River - the new Iron Bridge Condos. Taking its namesake from the abandoned railbridge to the north of the property, the building will be home to twelve new unfinished condo shells to be completed by each unit's future owner.
Continue reading "Iron Bridge Condos - Take me to the River" »
The Inland Northwest witnessed a frenzy of construction and development activity in 2006 (and we hope the fun isn't over yet). While most of the proposed projects have yet to break ground, clearly our little neck of the woods has been discovered. We have therefore given some thought to the Top 5 Trends and Predictions that will play out in our region over the next twelve months. At first read, it's a tall order, but we think a good number of these have a pretty good chance at happening. We'll get back to you in 12 months..
Continue reading "2007 Top 5 Trends & Predictions" »
An interesting article appeared in the Syracuse Post-Standard last fall. The author, Bruce Katz-Director of the Brookings Institution Metropolitan Policy Program, takes a look at a key strategy of the New York Govenor: Strive to attract at least 2 percent of each metropolitan area's population to live downtown. Some times simple is best. Such a strategy would have a dramatic effect on revitalizing many of Upstate New York's lagging metropolitan areas. 
