We mentioned earlier the concept of a freeway cap being discussed as a part of the East Central
Neighborhood Plan. It seems that there is a cap in the works for the University District, and of the two, this one seems to be less of a 'snowball' in the proverbial 'hell'.
As you'll recall, these caps are all about connecting what has been divided 
and more. In the case of the University District cap, the idea is to connect the Riverpoint Campus to the place where most of the economic activity will hopefully be: the Sprague Avenue corridor south of the BNSF tracks. The genesis and need for the railroad cap stems from the campus design. Rather than duplicate the multi-use street-grid that existed in the rest of downtown, the campus designers created a suburban, single-use, academic refuge adjacent to the central business district.
To overcome this awkward division of land uses the District needs much more than a bridge. A bridge won't work. To demonstrate why, one only has to consider failure of the I-90 pedestrian bridges. One word: isolation. This is where the cap comes in. To effectively connect the disconnected we have to create a space for human activity. Be it commerce or simply social, whatever is built must do so much more than connect, it needs to be a place.
entioned earlier our mid-construction impressions of the Jefferson Auto Lofts being done by RenCorp, LLC in the West First Avenue district. Fast forward a couple months and just last week, MetroSpokane received an invite to preview the completed lofts, enjoy some sushi, and down some beers...the DJ was a nice touch as well. All-in-all the units were shaping up nicely, and in the next month or so, the west First Avenue district will be welcoming a few new neighbors...we're looking forward to the first block-party.
