It used to be that the center of commerce for Spokane was along Riverside, not along it’s aptly named “Main Street.” How things have changed: over the last decade Spokane has seen Main Street become the shopper’s destination, much of that because of sizable financial and architectural investment. Along Main in the last ten years River Park Square was redeveloped, the streetscapes enhanced, a new Nordstrom added, and 809 W Main was 'adaptively reused', this time with windows. Even the old Crescent building is undergoing major changes including a new restaurant in February of 2008, “The Melting Pot” to be located on the second story corner of Post and Main [GMAP].
With all of this; why not another major project: a remodeled Macy’s in Downtown Spokane. Portland just welcomed the reopening of Macy's in the old Meier and Frank building, after they invested $30,000,000 to remodel it. Not to mention the hotel occupying the top ten stories of the building for a total project cost of $140,000,000. Now that's some neighborhood investment. Imagine the 10 story Macy’s along our Main Street looking a little less Soviet (both on the inside and the outside). So what do you say Macy's? Where's your Spokane love?
Both!
Posted by: Mariah McKay | December 18, 2007 at 09:40 AM
I agree, definitly both!
It's old, outdated, and needs a fresh new look.
Architects and interior designers could do wonders with that building, just like they did with the new RiverPark Square.
Posted by: Andrew Waddilove | December 18, 2007 at 03:01 PM
Yes it is time for a facelift and possible gutting of the Macy's Building. They've invested in two stores in two local malls which have no redeemable exterior architectual quality. How about the facelift for the sake of the greater good as a first phase, then the interior spiffed up in stages. Shopping there now sends me to an earlier era of 50's malaise.
Posted by: jim | December 18, 2007 at 03:57 PM
That old Bon Marche building has more character than the new buildings, imho. That and the Bennett Block are my two favorites along the RPS corridor.
Posted by: Tom | December 18, 2007 at 04:18 PM
If they take the 50's facade down to the original building facade would be my vote I like the 50's facade, so I could live with it. I think the inside of the building needs more updates compared to the outside. I also think the store needs to expand their store hours to support downtown for longer hours. This can be said of many downtown outlets also!
Posted by: dan/Spokane | December 18, 2007 at 07:56 PM
Hey -- I believe I floated that suggestion a couple of weeks ago.
The old Palace building underneath that 60's facade is really quite attractive. It deserves to see the light of day again.
Posted by: Contrarian | December 18, 2007 at 08:56 PM
You're absolutely right Contrarian. We went back and checked and you did mention it. Credit where credit is due. No wonder it sounded familiar. Thanks for the reminder.
Posted by: METROSPOKANE | December 19, 2007 at 12:22 AM