Worthy Enterprises LLC, of Spokane, has committed to develop 900,000 square feet of office and warehouse space just northeast of Spokane International Airport, on a high-visibility, 80-acre piece of airport-owned land known as the Airport Tech Park.


Walt Worthy, who heads that company and has developed numerous office-building projects elsewhere in the Spokane area, declined through an assistant to comment on the plans, which the assistant described as still uncertain.


However, airport spokesman Todd Woodard says an agreement that Worthy has signed with the Spokane Airport Board requires Worthy to develop 300,000 square feet of office-warehouse space in each five-year period over the next 15 years.


The plan is conditional on formal Federal Aviation Administration approval, but Worthy already has begun work at the somewhat triangular-shaped site, bounded by U.S. 2, Airport Drive, and Spotted Road, Woodard says. The property is located a short distance east of the Pacific Northwest Technology Park that a group headed by Dick Vandervert is developing.


Its very high profile, Woodard says, referring both to the light-industrial-zoned Airport Tech Park property and to the Airport Boards interest in seeing commercial development activity move forward there.


At its Aug. 15 regular meeting, the board approved a development policy for the 80-acre Airport Tech Park site, which it has designated for non-aeronautical use, and also approved a 50-year land lease agreement with Worthy Enterprises, with the FAA approval condition.


Plans call for the site to be developed in phases, with the first phase encompassing about 18 acres. Worthy Enterprises will pay an annual lease payment of $100,000 or 6 percent of the revenues it derives from building tenants there, whichever is greater.


Worthy Enterprises will pay for the construction of the buildings on the site, and will own those structures, Woodard says, referring questions about projected development costs to Worthy. He says the Airport Board already has spent about $1.8 million extending infrastructure to the site and building roads there over about the last five years.


One main road, Tech Park Drive, currently extends eastward from Spotted Road toward the center of the site.


That road has two spurs, one of which ends in a cul-de-sac near Airport Drive. Worthy will construct the first building on a piece of land bounded by that cul-de-sac, Airport Drive, and Spotted Road. That land is just across Airport Drive and slightly west of the large airport-entry water feature and landscaped area that greets motorists heading to the airport at the beginning of the Airport Drive loop.


A site plan for the first phase of the project shows it including four buildings, each with 45,000 square feet of floor space, with one located on each side of the cul-de-sac and the other two angled toward each other just east of there, also along Airport Drive.


The Airport Board some years ago had considered putting up a speculative building there to get activity rolling, but always has preferred to attract private developers who would be willing to take on that role, Woodard says.


We could not be happier that the developer is someone of Worthys stature, Woodard says.


The Airport Tech Park site has a lot of basalt rock outcroppings, and Worthy has considerable expertise at developing on such sites, he says. The Rockpointe Corporate Center that Worthy Enterprises developed north of downtown, and later sold, is located mostly atop a basalt rock bluff.


Of Worthys interest in the airport site, Woodard says he thinks the developer was intrigued by the unique rock outcroppings, adding, I think most people would shy away from that physical topography.


Though much of Worthys development expertise has been in office buildings, he and his wife, Karen, most recently have been recognized for redeveloping the landmark Davenport Hotel downtown and constructing the adjacent Davenport Tower.


Contact Kim Crompton at (509) 344-1263 or via e-mail at kimc@spokanejournal.com.