Big plans are in the works that could spur revitalization at the east end of downtown Spokane, but developers have led a resurgence on their own in recent months with a passel of smaller projects.


A handful of companies and businessmen have bought old buildings and have started renovation work for new restaurants, offices, or retail spaces in the east end. Others have torn down vacant or underutilized structures and are erecting new ones in their place.


One project is followed by another and another and another, says Hartly Kruger, recently retired president of the Spokane Area Convention and Visitors Bureau, which opened a visitors information center in the east end four years ago. People all of a sudden see people succeeding in that part of town, and its building on itself.


Businessman Dan Spalding, who owns two adjoining buildings on the north side of Main just west of Division that house a Rocket Bakery and retail shops, says hes encouraged by the recent activity.


You go up on the roof here and you see it. Theres activity all around this place, says Spalding, who has owned his buildings for seven years. Youre also seeing a lot more pride in the neighborhood. Youre starting to see milling around on the streetsthe kind of people you want to see milling around.


While talks continue on key major improvements, such as an expansion of the city of Spokanes convention facilities, other projects have sprung up. For instance:


An investment group headed by Spokane commercial real estate specialist Dick Edwards has broken ground on a two-story, 6,000-square-foot office building in the 200 block of Main. Edwards says the group expects to complete that $918,000 building in late December and plans to build a similarly sized building directly to the east, but hasnt set a time line for that project yet. Edwards asserts that the site of the two structures is ideal for development, because its close to downtown and has easy access from Interstate 90.


When we heard about this land being available, we had an offer in within an hour, Edwards says.


Jim Sheehan, a long-time Spokane attorney, bought the former Birkebeiner Brewery Co. building and the structure just to the east on the south side of Main, just west of Division. He has begun renovating the three-story, 25,000-square-foot former Birkebeiner building and has said it will include retail and common space on the first floor and office space for nonprofit organizations on the second and third floors. He expects to start remodeling the second building, a three-story, 15,000-square-foot structure, after the first project is complete, perhaps late this year.


Fruci Family LLC, a company controlled by the family that owns Fruci & Associates PS accounting firm and Fruci Financial Services Inc., is constructing a two-story, 12,000-square-foot building at the southeast corner of Spokane Falls Boulevard and Bernard Street. The building will house a Kinkos Inc. outlet, and the top floor likely will provide expansion space for the Fruci enterprises, which are located in a building directly east of the new structure.


A new Chilis Bar & Grill is going up at the southwest corner of Spokane Falls Boulevard and Browne Street, a block east of the Fruci project. The new eatery will be on the site of a former Union Gospel Mission building that was razed after sitting mostly vacant for a number of years.


Catholic Charities is wrapping up construction of a new House of Charity at the northeast corner of Pacific Avenue and Browne and plans to move out of its current building at 9 W. Main in mid-August, says Mary Ann Heskett, development director for the nonprofit organization. Catholic Charities owns the building on Main, where it also operates a homeless shelter for men and offers meals and medical care to low-income people. It has received a few offers from parties interested in buying the building, but hasnt decided yet whether it will sell.


In addition to those projects, Luigis Development LLC has reopened Luigis Italian Restaurant in the three-story, 17,000-square-foot former Salvation Army building, at 245 W. Main, and the second and third floors of that building are being renovated as office space. Fire destroyed Luigis former location on Bernard about two years ago, and the Italian Kitchen restaurant has since opened in that nearby space.


Also, China Best Inc. recently moved the China Best restaurant into a building at 230 W. Riverside. That company also remodeled the former Mothers Pub, just west of the restaurant, and turned it into a lounge called Club Kamikaze.


Spalding, whose buildings are across Main from the former Birkebeiner, plans to convert the top two floors of his four-story building into four large studio apartments. He hasnt decided when to start the project yet.


Michael Edwards, president of the Downtown Spokane Partnership and a key participant in development of a city of Spokane-approved downtown comprehensive plan titled the Plan For a New Downtown, says the east-end private projects are coming together faster than expected.


There certainly is a level of confidence downtown that hasnt been seen in a while, he says.


Its also surprising to him that projects are happening en masse before some of the major improvements called for in the downtown plan have gotten under way, he says.


Expansion of the citys convention facilities at the east end of downtown could start within 2 1/2 years, and construction of an eastbound on-ramp onto Interstate 90 from Divisions northbound lanes is expected to start this fall. The latter improvement will make the Division-I-90 interchange serve as a better entrance to downtown Spokanes east end.


Additionally, a master plan for Washington State University at Spokanes Riverpoint campus thats expected to be released this month includes plans to promote public-private development southwest of the campus and to improve links between the east end of downtown and the Riverpoint campus, says Bill Gray, campus executive officer and dean of WSU-Spokane.


Developers have proposed projects at a few other sites in the east end where work hasnt started yet or plans havent been firmed up.


For instance, the Fairmont Apartments building on the 300 block of West Sprague still might be renovated. The fire-damaged, six-story building had been slated for demolition, but Wells & Co. has offered to buy the structure and would move ahead with a $7.7 million renovation if it completes the purchase. Developer and architect Ron Wells, who heads Wells & Co., has said the company would convert the upper five floors of the building into upscale office space and put retail space at ground level.


A proposal, by a group that includes architect and developer Glen Cloninger, to erect high-rise office towers and a parking garage in the east end of downtown still is on the table. That project is proposed for the block directly south of the convention center, where a 300-space parking lot and an Arizona Steakhouse restaurant now stand. Under that proposal, the convention center would be expanded on the block directly to the east, where the Frucis building, a School District No. 81 administrative office building, and other structures are located, and Fruci Family LLC is building its project.


A study commissioned by the Spokane Entertainment, Arts, and Conventions Advisory Board, however, has recommended that the convention-center facilities be expanded where the parking lot is now.


A proposed expansion that would give the convention facilities an additional 104,000 square feet of usable space, for a total of 167,500 square feet of usable space in all, must start by the end of 2002 to receive designated state sales tax money. Business leaders, including Michael Edwards, say theyre optimistic that the expansion will get off the ground in time to qualify for the state money, regardless of which site is chosen.


So you take all of this energy and then you add an expanding convention center, and youve got a lot of energy down there, Edwards says.


At Riverpoint


While downtown advocates hope plans for convention-center expansion are carried out, another plan, the master plan for WSU-Spokanes Riverpoint campus, is expected to include ideas that also would benefit the east end of downtown if brought to fruition.


The plan will address an area bordered by the Spokane River to the north, the railroad viaduct to the south, Division Street to the west, and Riverpoints eastern boundary. Currently, the ideas for that area are conceptual, Gray says, because the university doesnt own much land in the southwest portion of that area.


However, he says, The area toward downtown and toward the south will have a far greater density than to the north and the east, where a more traditional campus setting has been established. In that southwestern area, the plan will suggest public-private interactions with buildings that include space for both commercial and academic uses.


The plan also will suggest creation of some sort of entrance at the southwest end of the campus that could provide an improved gateway between downtown and Riverpoint, as well as a north-south corridor that would be developed to connect campus facilities on each side of Trent Avenue.


The plan also could help a biotechnology incubator move past the conceptual stage, Gray says. Business and academic leaders have discussed creating such a facility that could benefit Riverpoint, the east end of downtown, and the medical district just south of downtown. Such an incubator could be located at Riverpoint, he says.


Weve identified some of the actors and have some of the raw science, but were still a very young biotech community, he says.