A development company here thats proposing a new downtown-Spokane office building has redesigned and expanded the envisioned structure with hopes of attracting a coveted anchor tenant.


The company, Riverside 89 LLC, now is looking to build a five-story, 110,000-square-foot office structure with a below-ground parking level on the site of the buildings that once housed J.J. Newberry Co. and Lamonts Apparel Inc. department stores, says Al Payne, Riverside 89s managing partner.


The total cost to develop and construct the building, which would be called Centre Place, would be about $15 million, Payne says.


Previously, Riverside 89 had mulled construction of a three-story, 75,000-square-foot office structure on that site, which is along Riverside Avenue between Howard and Wall streets.


As early as March, the company could begin demolishing the long-vacant buildings there to make way for Centre Place, Payne says. The proposed new structure is expected to take just over 18 months to build and would be completed by December 2005, he says.


Still, the construction time lineand financing for the projectis contingent on Riverside 89 inking an anchor tenant for the planned building, Payne says.


He says Riverside 89 is courting Spokanes largest law firm, Paine, Hamblen, Coffin, Brooke & Miller LLP, and hopes that firm will take the top two floors of the proposed building.


David Broom, a partner with Paine Hamblen, says the firm is looking at the proposed Centre Place building, but isnt anywhere near making a decision on whether to move there or anywhere else.


The bottom line is everything is wide open, Broom says.


Paine Hamblen has talked for several years about needing to consolidate its officesthe firm has a total of 40,000 square feet of office space in two different downtown buildingsinto a single Class A office location. The law firm has said it likely would want to be involved if a new high rise is built in the citys core.


Riverside 89 is pursuing two options for financing for its proposed project, which would involve either borrowing money or entering into a joint venture, Payne says.


A potential joint-venture partner told Payne in a letter that it would fully finance the project if Paine Hamblen agrees to move its offices to Centre Place, he says.


Levernier Construction Inc. and ALSC Architects PS, both of Spokane, are the design-build team for the planned project.


Payne, a longtime Spokane developer who owns Payne Property & Development with his wife, Patricia, says Riverside 89 includes five investors, four in Spokane and a former Spokanite who now lives in Montana. Riverside 89 owns the Lamonts building and has an option to buy the Newberry property. Both structures have sat vacant since 1996.


The property is considered to be a prominent location downtown, situated south of the Washington Mutual Financial Center and north across Riverside from the Bank of America Financial Center. It had been mentioned in the city of Spokanes downtown development plan as a potential public gathering place.


Mike Edwards, president of the Downtown Spokane Partnership, a nonprofit organization here that works for downtown vitality, says, With its location in the very center of the downtown core, Centre Place will be an important addition to the vitality of downtown.