Decision Time for Jensen-Byrd

April 17th was the deadline for interested parties to submit proposals for redevelopment of the Jensen-Byrd and the surrounding 3.5 acres. The building is located between Spokane Falls Boulevard and East Main Avenue near Pine Street and is the most prominent structure in that area. We have made a few postings regarding the Jensen-Byrd including our tour of the building back in February. I contacted WSU facilities for some information on the proposals and it turns out that they received 4 proposals and are planning on a decision to come forth in the first week of May. That’s coming up in a couple weeks and we are excited to see what will become of the property.

• Jensen-Byrd Building Will Stand (GoingVert)
• Jensen-Byrd: A Look Inside (GoingVert)
• WSU blocks Jensen-Byrd destruction (Spokesman Review)
• Jensen-Byrd Building Your Order Is Ready… (metrospokane)

Developer Embracing The Web

Any business that doesn’t embrace the advantages of the web is most likely on the wrong track. No other form of communication is as advantageous as the internet. The question is how you utilize it, and how much of your business will be built around it. Black Rock Development has recently begun to utilize the internet in a way I have yet to see any other developer utilize. They have built their own real estate listing site to list their property, instead of posting properties through another website (which I’m sure many of their properties are posted elsewhere). The advantage; anyone in the market for a home built by Black Rock doesn’t have to sift through anything of lesser value or lesser quality. Its a no-brainer for Black Rock to pool their listings in a centralized location, and have full control over how their are delivered plus having full control over those who are interested. Since Black Rock obviously is in a market of the elite a service such as this is a step in the right direction. They can deliver their content and communicate with the customers in a custom and personal manner. I’m assuming that many of Black Rock customers expect this from the company in the first place. Great site, well built, and I think its a great addition to the companies web presence.

Plus their commercial section shows a view of Downtown Spokane. Getting ready to start leasing some spaces or selling homes for Kendall Yards?

Bravo

Link: Black Rock Properties

Want to be a GoingVert writer?

If you visit the site on a regular basis you’ll notice that it hasn’t been very active since the start. I’ve been trying to post as regularly as possible but it has been difficult due to many other projects I have in the works. If your interested in becoming a writer right here on GoingVert, please let me know. Send me an email with some writings that you have done and possibly some photographs you have taken. If I like what I see you can jump on board and help shape GoingVert!

Anyone interested please send an email with some material to tips@goingvert.com.

Jensen-Byrd Building Will Stand

Washington State University is seeking proposals from interested developers to renovate the Jensen-Byrd building and develop the surrounding 3.5 acres. The most important part of this recent activity on the Jensen-Byrd front are the official words I’ve been waiting for, demolition is not an option. WSU won’t accept proposal for condominiums instead encouraging developers to concentrate on projects that will influence the surrounding education environment. This is great news for the survival of this gem and hopefully we see some creative ideas stem from this request.

It will be interesting to see how many proposals do end up flowing in and who is interested. The university prepared a feasibility assessment of restoration awhile back and the options showed many obstacles, most importantly cost. The pillar construction of the building makes options limited and developers as well as architects are going to need to be creative in their design, as well as the projected use of the property.

Proposals are due by April 17th and WSU is planning on accepting a lease by August 15th.

Make sure to take a look at our tour of the Jensen-Byrd.

Send In Your Tips!

I just want to remind people to send in any information that you may have on projects around the Inland Northwest. I’m a one man team right now so gathering information can be rather slow. So if you have information about upcoming projects, renderings, pictures, or whatever else make sure to visit the tips page and send it in!

Montvale Hotel Up For Sale

It has been three years since the 2005 restoration of the 36 room Montvale Hotel located in downtown Spokane on First Avenue and Monroe Street. The hotel was built in 1899 sat bruised and broken for 25 years before ConoverBond Development president Ron Brewster bought the building and began restoration. Three million dollars later the hotel was back to its original use and beat the mostly inevitable destiny of a street level parking lot. Well now it’s up for sale. Asking price, $5,100,000. A great example of Spokane’s development progress at the turn of the century.

• Montvale Hotel
• Montvale Hotel Listing on LoopNet

Jensen-Byrd: A Look Inside

Spokane has it’s share of amazing historic buildings. Many get the opportunity to serve long into the future, being restored into loft condominiums or exposed brick office units. For others the reality isn’t so sweet, and we witnessed this with the demolition of the Rookery Block. Sitting quietly as it has been for years, on the east end of downtown Spokane, is the Jensen-Byrd building. Even with so many stunning examples of architecture in Spokane I can’t think of any building that expresses so much character to me as the Jensen-Byrd does. I’ve photographed it numerous times and can’t think of a moment when I pass by and don’t take a look. The future for this aging building is uncertain, we can only hope to see it standing tall a hundred years from now.

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A town within a town, Hayden Canyon

The Northern Idaho real estate market never fails to impress. Usually when you hear about money being pumped into a specific area it’s in and around Coeur D’Alene. Today the neighbor of Coeur D’Alene, Hayden, was in the spotlight, with the proposed development of Hayden Canyon being presented to the Kootenai Environmental Alliance and the watchdog group Friends of Hayden.

This is a massive development for the city of Hayden, ID and is said to boost the population by 25%. The 240 acre development will take place Northeast of Hayden near highway 95. The development will be located on Lancaster and Strahhorn roads. The plan calls for over 1,800 units, a community center, shops (over 100,000 square feet), restaurants, trails, and more. The focus is it preserve the overall goal of the Hayden community, embracing their surroundings and steering away from the dense urban environment of most cities staying inclusive with the landscape around them. The addition of wide open walkable spaces, bicylce and pedestrian connectivity, and land donated for a school and fire station will be a invaluable asset to this proposition.

Looking at the proposal this seems like a positive step for the city of Hayden. Even though the develop is set on a large chunk of 618 acres (that’s what I gathered from my research) it looks as though the footprint is only a relatively small portion of that land. That means a lot of preserved and undeveloped land (said to be public), 240 acres (really? wow). That is a great incentive for this development. The developers could have squeezed every lot possible out of this land but it seems as if they may have resorted to the good to the community.

We all know that when a project is proposed it is just that, proposed. This development may evolve into something slightly, or maybe drastically different than it is now. From my standpoint it seems releaving to see developers taking a position to speak directely to the people that may have questions or possible oppose their intentions. Overall I think it is a great start to a project that maybe be very positive if it is executed properly.

This project has been up in the air for years now. And even though it has, and will, meet hurdles until its completion I think it is a step in the right direction. Northern Idaho is and will grow. So it is the responsibility of the people to make sure it grows properly. Hopefully everyone realizes and becomes active in guiding the boat.

Link: Hayden Canyon

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GoingVert.com forum is LIVE!

Worked today on getting our discussion system live. Still have some little changes and updates I need to make but overall it is in place and functional. If anyone has questions/suggestions feel free to make a post in Off Topic. Sign-up, tell your friends, and start yappin’! I hope to see people very active in the discussion area! Could potentially see something useful come out of it if people sign-up and use it. So get it at!

Check out the discussion area!

Does Spokane have growing problems?

My postings on the site have been rather slow to start of mainly due to the fact as I am working on the projects section, which will be a wiki where the community can add and modify information and progress on local projects. I was working on some code late last night and I got thinking what the general opinion everyone has about Spokane’s growing problems and where they are rooted. What’s your opinion?

Time after time projects seem to fall through the cracks around here. Do you think developers are not willing to take the risks to really prove our market? Does Spokane just not have the interested business or people to really see the core dense up? Maybe the market is just too sour right now to see these projects start skywards? Or possibly does our local government have a negative attitude about our urban growth in the first place?