MetroSpokane

Washington Trust Building - SOON!

[The end of days?  Nay.  Just an advertisement for the nearly complete Washington Trust Building in 1973.]

"Standing tall on Spokane's skyline and in the community the magnificent Washington Trust building will soon enter actively into daily life.  The soaring sixteen-story tower will be filled with busy banking and business offices.  Adjoining parking for 260 cars will facilitate your using our expanding full service banking.

Computer programmed elevators will whisk you to all-floor destinations in this complex that crowns over 70 years of service to our city, our people, our industries and businesses.

With our eight community locations, the Washington Trust Bank tower and office complex will make it pay you more than ever to be a Washington Trust Banker.  Come bank with the tallest bank building in town and enjoy a new dimension in personal service.  Soon!"

Is Macy's in need of a facelift or a gutting?

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].

Post and Riverside: Grant Building makeover underway

A much needed face-lift of the three-story 42,000 sqf Grant Building at Post and Riverside has started.  The fencing and jersey-barriers are in place and the odd exterior material is already filling the dumpsters.  Downtown office employees everywhere were heard quietly mumbling something about the benefits of windows.  Architects Nystrom Olson Collins are taking full ownership of the design.

• Grant Building - 806 W. Riverside [GMAP]

Question: Can low income housing and innovative design coexist?

Over in the Chief Garry neighborhood Habitat for Humanity is putting the finishing touches on one of their recent "Blitz Build" projects.  The idea is to construct a project in a rapid time frame (usually weeks).  This project was a nine unit development.  Habitat is one of our favorite charitable organizations and worthy of support.  The question is, looking at this project can the goals of low income housing be achieved with innovative and compassionate design?  Are they completely separate and unattainable outcomes?

Samuel Mockbee approached the same question in rural Hale County, Alabama starting back in 1993.  As a professor of architecture his 'rural studio' brought architecture students to the county to design and build homes for needy residents in what is one of the poorest areas in the country.  The designs are innovative, push the envelope, are built very cheaply, but they're also 'noble', as he put it.

This discussion is a fine line to be walking.  But given that there is a tent city not four blocks from here, it's a timely topic.  The need for low income housing is essential, but visiting the site yesterday and seeing how it turns it's back on the neighborhood, how it isolates rather than integrates into it, makes us wonder what the outcome will be in 5, 10, or 20 years from now.

Mountain Gear: Wins state award for sustainable 'RE'-development

Spokane area businesses seem to be getting more and more recognition lately for innovations in sustainability.  For starters there's Commuter Cars, manufacturer of the innovative electric vehicle The Tango (located in the University District) and the uber-sustainable Saranac Hotel.  We can now add to that list the new Mountain Gear facility.

Just like the Saranac, Mountain Gear took a long under-utilized building and retrofitted it with a keen eye towards sustainability.  The company's efforts were noticed as last month the State of Washington awarded Mountain Gear the Governor's Award for Pollution Prevention and Sustainable Practices.  According to the Department of Ecology website, "Mountain Gear was the first commercial company, and is still the largest private company, to remodel their building in Eastern Washinton following the Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design standards."

The impact of Mountain Gear integrating sustainability into their project?  How about:  Conserve 248,000 gallons water/year, remodel reduced energy use by  60%, and salvaged or recycled 50% of their construction debris.  Nice!

Building Spotlight: The Boulevard

North of Downtown sits one of Spokane's most recognizable buildings - The Boulevard.  Less known by name and more known by location, anyone familiar with Spokane knows of the The Boulevard and exactly where it's located - Northwest Blvd and Monroe.

Kennedy Apartments-Suddenly Ruby St. looks a little better

So how do you help revitalize a tough part of town along one of the busiest arterials in the City? 

1. Drop a few million on a new residential apartment building
2. Invite 225 upperclass-men/women to live there
3. Sit back and watch it happen

What was once Colonial Bowl has been reborn as the Kennedy Apartments-after a fire setback the opening.  Slated for occupation this fall, the presence of hundreds of new students is going to give new life to a neighborhood that is home to a great collection of warehouses.  The building also boasts a Gonzaga bookstore and a cafe on the street level.

Pacific-Pak Ice building...

One of the smartest things our city fathers did was adopt a building code that required all new buildings downtown be made of brick.  This, of course was after the city was gutted by the great fire in 1889.  Because of that code we have a good inventory of brick structures in our downtown that continue to function much as they did when first built.  First Ave. has a perfect example of such a structure in the Morris and Company building near 1st and Jefferson.

Cathedral Point Condos: 1/2 the building it used to be

Last time we checked in on the Cathedral Point Condos things were pretty sleepy.  However, that was a few months, and a few sawzalls back.  As of yesterday the project appears to be somewhere between 'before' and 'after'.  Now that we think about it, it almost seems the building has regressed and is a little bit before 'before'.  The formerly pleasant foursquare now is 3/4 1/2 the building it once was.  A new foundation is in, as is some plywood sheathing.  We're looking forward to watching this one transform into the pagoda-esque foursquare the rendering promised.

Fire Season in West Central...

 

A tipster alerted us to the rash of 'suspicious' fires that seem to be occurring in ever increasing frequency in West Central.  Said tipster recently hit the streets of the WC and made notes of those places of which they were aware had been the victim of a fire.  The result is the map you see here.  Over the past two years, since this person has moved to the neighborhood, they've witnessed/heard about fifteen fires that have damaged or leveled homes in the neighborhood.  We're no Dale Cooper, but fifteen fires in two years seems a bit excessive.  While not all the fires started under 'suspicious' circumstances, it does beg the question: If this were happening elsewhere in the City, and on this scale, would it be getting more attention?  We're just askin'.