Fowler Property Acquisitions LLC, the Sacramento-based company that recently bought the Crescent and Paterson buildings in downtown Spokane, has begun remodeling the historic structures.


Located at the southeast corner of Main Avenue and Post Street, the connected buildings have a total of about 230,000 square feet of floor space, with retail spaces on the first and second floors and offices on the upper floors. The Crescent has seven floors, and the Paterson has four floors.


Johnathan Makus, a leasing agent at Spokane-based Tomlinson Black Commercial Inc. who is marketing the buildings, didnt have a cost estimate for the remodeling work, but says Fowler expects to spend about $2 million on the improvements.


Remodeling is starting with improvements to the retail levels, where about 30,000 square feet of floor space is available, including the space that the Moose Lake Co. clothing store is vacating soon. Those improvements include replacing flooring and reconfiguring some spaces, among other things, Makus says.


One of the improvements that could occur there involves combining the restaurant space formerly occupied by Cucina, Cucina Italian Caf and the Moose Lake area, creating a 12,000-square-foot restaurant space.


In addition to the retail improvements, Fowler plans to remodel the vacant office space in the Crescent Building once tenants are secured for that space.


The building has about 28,000 square feet of office space thats available for lease, some of which XO Communications has vacated and is looking to sublease and some of which has been unused.


Work on the exterior improvements is pending approval from the Spokane Historic Landmarks Commission, which must approve exterior changes to buildings listed on the citys historical register.


The largely empty Crescent food court is housed in the neighboring Sterling Savings Bank headquarters building to the south and isnt part of Fowlers remodeling project.


Fowler is acting as its own contractor on the remodeling project, and Bernardo-Wills Architects PC, of Spokane, designed the improvements. Fowler bought the Crescent and Paterson buildings last December from Red Lion Hotels LP, of Spokane.


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