Former Spokane attorney James Sheahan has bought the old Sarnac Hotel building and a neighboring warehouse structure along West Main Avenue in downtown Spokanes east end.


The buildings are just east of two structures that Sheahan bought in 2000 and converted into office space for nonprofit organizations and for-profit companies with social-justice or environmental-justice missions. Those three-story structures collectively are referred to as the Community Building.


Dave Sanders, who manages the Community Building, says the old hotel structure likely will serve as an extension of the Community Building. Sheahan, who now lives in Half Moon Bay, Calif., is considering a number of potential uses, including a small movie theater and caf on the ground level and possibly a youth hostel and office space on the upper floors.


Cost estimates for renovation work arent available yet, he says.


Sheahan bought the structures from C&H Properties LLC, of Spokane, Sanders says. He declines to disclose the terms of the transaction.


The 97-year-old Sarnac Hotel building, at 25 W. Main, is four stories tall and has a total of 32,000 square feet of floor space. The structure has 63 living units in it and most recently had been used as a low-income apartment building, but the structure has been vacant for the past two years, Sanders says.


Zeck-Butler Architects PS, of Spokane, currently is working on designing improvements to the old hotel building, and renovation work could start next spring, Sanders says.


The one-level warehouse building is located next door at 21 W. Main, and has a total of 3,000 square feet of floor space. Sheahan hasnt decided whether to keep that structure or tear it down to make way either for green space or a surface parking lot, Sanders says.


Opened in 2001, the Community Building currently is home to Global Folk Art, the Center For Justice nonprofit law firm, the Child Care & Training Institute, Northwest Fair Housing, and the KYRS 95.3 FM community radio station, among others.


Tenants there dont pay rent, but split the cost of the buildings utilities, taxes, and other operational expenses.