The Community Colleges of Spokane Foundation wants to buy the Riverpoint One office building just east of downtown Spokane, and has asked the Washington state Housing Finance Commission to issue $8.8 million in bonds to finance the purchase.
If the commission issues the bonds, the foundation, which works to develop and enhance the Community Colleges of Spokanes programs, would buy and own the building.
Assuming those plans proceed, Bridget Piper, president of the CCS Foundation, says that part of the structure would house the administrative staff of the Community Colleges of Spokane. She says the administrative office space is needed because the college districts headquarters building, which is located on the Spokane Community College campus, is slated to be torn down when construction of the north-south freeway here gets under way. The remaining space in the Riverpoint One building would continue to be leased to business tenants that already are there.
Meanwhile, Eastern Washington University also had been interested in buying the Riverpoint One building to house offices and classrooms. This spring, EWU unsuccessfully sought legislative authority to use university funds to buy the building. Mike Irish, EWUs associate vice president for facilities and planning, says the college was looking at the building because its near the Riverpoint Higher Education Park, but dropped the matter after failing to receive authority from the Legislature to buy it.
The four-story Riverpoint One structure, which was erected in 1989, has about 72,000 square feet of leasable space and currently is home to about a dozen business tenants, says David Clack, president of Northwest Management Service Inc., which manages the office building. He says that part of the appeal of the building is that about half of its first floor and most of its second floor are available for immediate occupancy. That space became available when Pitney Bowes Inc. vacated its space there and moved to the Rock Pointe East office building.
Riverpoint One is located at 501 W. Riverpoint Blvd., just west of the Riverpoint Higher Education Park. The building is owned by Riverpoint One LLC, a group of private investors from Washington state, Clack says.
Tia Peycheff, manager of the capital projects division at the Housing Finance Commission, says the CCS Foundation would be responsible for repaying the bondsmost likely through the leasing of office space in the buildingthat would be sold to enable the foundation to buy the building.
In the proposed issue, the foundation is requesting about $4 million in tax-exempt bonds and another $4.8 million in taxable bonds, Peycheff says. Tax-exempt bonds, which allow an organization to secure below-market financing, can be issued only if the proceeds from their sale support the mission of the nonprofit thats requesting the bonds, she says. She adds that in the case of the CCS Foundation, tax-exempt financing is available to pay only for the portion of the building that would be used to support the community colleges here.
The remaining portion of the building, which already is occupied by various for-profit businesses, must be paid for with taxable bonds, Peycheff says.
The commission currently is accepting comments on the proposed bond sale, and plans to hold a public meeting in Seattle next week to discuss the sale request, Peycheff says. The commission hasnt decided yet whether it will issue the bonds or when that decision would be made, she says.