Spokane architect Glen A. Cloninger is reintroducing his vision for development of the city block just south of the Spokane Convention Center, where the next generation of convention center expansion is expected to occur.


The Spokane Public Facilities Districts board voted late last month to pursue acquisition of that entire downtown block for future expansion, and PFD Executive Director Kevin Twohig says he is beginning negotiations with landowners for acquiring that property.


Cloninger, who owns just over half of the block, says he hopes that the PFD will consider developing a building that he conceptually designed a few years ago with late architect Bruce Walker, who oversaw design of the Spokane Convention Center and Opera House in the 1970s. The envisioned structure would have a similar exterior design to that of the older complex.


Cloningers vision for the block includes a multilevel structure with retail space on the ground floor and levels of parking and potentially convention space on upper floors.


He says that under his plan, a private group could own and operate the retail space, and the PFD could own and operate the convention and parking space. Hes unsure how such an arrangement would be structured, but believes that one option might be for the PFD to condominiumize the retail space.


Twohig says Cloninger approached the PFD board with that proposal a few years ago. At that time, the board was concentrating all of its efforts on the $89 million convention center expansion, which included construction of the 100,000-square-foot exhibit hall to the east of the established facility.


With the exhibit hall completed and only some improvements to the older facility left to finish, the PFD board is turning its attention to the south site now.


Twohig isnt critical of Cloningers ideas for that site. He says, however, Itd be way too early to speculate on design concepts. We need to acquire the property before we know what we are going to build there.


The PFD has $3.8 million left over from the exhibit-hall expansion and will use that for property acquisition. Twohig says he will ask the board this week to fund an appraisal of the property it doesnt already own on that block and for approval to seek bids from consultants who would write a master plan for the site.


A three-dimensional model that Cloninger built of the conceptual structure shows it taking the bulk of the block, with a crescent-shaped curve on the north side of the building where its main entrance would be located, a triangle-shaped courtyard near the southwest corner, and a pedestrian corridor the width of Spokane Falls Boulevard cutting through it diagonally.


In all, Cloninger says, the ground floor of the proposed building would accommodate about 80,000 square feet of floor space and could house a range of retail uses, including a supermarket.


Now that condos are coming back downtown, they need services, he says. There are going to be new uses that arent there right now.


The pedestrian corridor would provide a link between the convention complexs main entrance and downtown Spokane, helping the facility better tie into the citys core, Cloninger says. Some downtown business owners had wanted the new exhibit hall to be built on the south site originally so that it would be closer to the core.


On the second floor of the envisioned structure, a skywalk lobby would span Spokane Falls Boulevard and connect the new structure to the opera house, now named the INB Performing Arts Center.


If parking were built on the upper floors of the structure as designed, each floor would have about 400 parking slots.


The block eyed for future development encompasses 120,000 square feet of space and is bordered by Spokane Falls Boulevard to the north, Main Avenue to the south, Bernard Street to the east, and Washington Street to the west. The block mostly is taken up by surface parking, with one restaurant building located along Spokane Falls Boulevard.


In the late 1990s, Cloninger was part of a group that eyed development of two towers and a parking structure on that city block. At that time, he proposed that the skyscrapers would be office towers, though he says now that those structures could house hotels, condos, or a mix of uses. Hed still be open to exploring a high-rise development on the site, though he doubts that there would be as much interest in such a development as there could be in his other proposal.


While Cloninger owns just over half of the block, the PFD owns just over 30 percent of it, and Diamond Parking Services Inc., of Seattle, owns the rest.


Twohig says that although the PFD isnt working on design concepts yet, it has begun holding stakeholders meetings to talk about concepts for that block and has hired ALSC Architects PS, of Spokane, to draft some potential expansion options, which it has begun.


Essential components for the next generation of expansion of the convention center include between 600 and 800 parking slots, 120,000 square feet of convention space, and a lobby, most likely along Spokane Falls Boulevard, Twohig says.


A parking structure probably would be constructed on the site initially, then convention space would be built atop that structure later, he says. He adds, though, that there isnt a time line for an expansion, nor is there a funding source for it at this time.


ALSCs drawings of options for that site include parking levels, convention space, and private commercial space. Some options include underground parking, but Twohig says that might not be an option on that site. He says the PFD ran into more contaminated soil than it expected when it expanded to the east, so it might be leery about doing more than the minimum excavation needed on the south site.


Regardless of what development option emerges, Cloninger says hes willing to work with the PFD. He doubts, however, that the PFD will be able to buy the land its needs on that block for the $3.8 million it has allotted for property acquisition. He says past appraised values have varied widelyhe hasnt commissioned his own appraisal yetbut one appraisal completed on behalf of the city of Spokane 12 years ago put the value of the land at $100 a square foot, or roughly $8 million for the additional property the PFD would need.


The value hasnt gone down since then, he says.


Contact Linn Parish at (509) 344-1266 or via e-mail at linnp@spokanejournal.com.