Spokane developer Mick McDowell has bought the site of the former Thadeus T. Thudpuckers restaurant on downtown Spokanes east end and plans to build a five-story, 60,000-square-foot Class A office building there.


The 1.25-acre site is located along the east side of Browne Street between Sprague and Riverside avenues. Jim Kolva, a Spokane land-use consultant working on McDowells behalf, says the Thudpuckers building and a vacant, neighboring structure along Riverside will be demolished to make way for the project, which is expected to get under way this summer or fall.


Itll be a real asset to Spokane, Kolva says of the planned brick structure. Were trying to put a building there that adds to the downtown streetscape.


Cost estimates for the project arent available yet, Kolva says. Similar-sized projects in Spokane, however, have cost well into in the millions of dollars.


Kolva says he expects that a bank will be a major tenant in the building, but referred questions about potential tenants to McDowell, who declines for now to comment on the project.


That tenant could be AmericanWest Bank. In March, bank President and CEO Duane Brandenburg said the institution was working with a developer who would erect a structure between Browne and Division streets that would be in excess of 30,000 square feet and three or more stories. Brandenburg said that if everything works out, AmericanWest could move its downtown branch into the new structure next year. Attempts to reach Brandenburg for comment this week were unsuccessful.


Kolva says hes scheduled to meet later this month with city of Spokane building officials for a design review on the project. He also expects to file a building-permit application later this month.


Steven A. Meek Architects, of Spokane, designed the structure.


McDowell first emerged as a developer in Spokane by renovating older buildings into low-income housing, and he currently owns and operates just under 300 low-income rental units in or near downtown.


In recent years, however, McDowell has focused on other types of development projects. For example, early last year, he renovated the Turner Building at Broadway Avenue and Monroe Street that now houses a state work-release program. Also last year, he renovated the dilapidated Albert Apartments, just east of downtown, into market-rate living units.


Thudpuckers, which was well known for its big chicken-fried steaks, had been doing business at that downtown site for 18 years until it closed in mid-April.