Spokane businessman Dave Clack and North Idaho businessman Harry Magnuson are considering developing a business park on 18 acres east of a railroad overpass on Freya Street in the heart of East Spokanes industrial area.


A portion of the property has been used for the past 85 years as a stockyard, although that will change in June. Stockland Union Stockyard, the longtime operator there, announced last week that it plans to vacate the 7.5 acres it occupies on the west end of the parcel, and move to Davenport, Wash., about 40 miles west of Spokane.


In all, the 18 acres stretches from Freya Street east to what would be Myrtle Street, and the lands southern edge abuts Burlington Northern Santa Fe Corp.s railroad tracks.


Clack says that with Stockland gone, the stockyard has little residual value, but once the livestock-handling facilities have been removed, that would open up a total of 18 acres of land that already is zoned for manufacturing uses. He envisions a business park on the property that would contain both office space and at least 180,000 square feet of industrial buildings for high-technology manufacturers.


This is a strategically located piece of property. With the north-south freeway planned nearby and I-90 only a few blocks away, that puts this property in the middle of a transportation hub, Clack says. Easy access to rail transport also adds to the attractiveness of the property.


The preferred route for the long-proposed north-south freeway runs just west of Clack and Magnusons property, and an interchange for the north-south freeway is expected to be built at Trent Avenue near Freya Waya block or two from the proposed business park.


This site has a lot of features that many properties in Spokane just dont have, Clack says.


Clack and Magnuson recently hired ALSC Architects PS, of Spokane, to evaluate the current zoning of the property and to develop possible site plans that would incorporate the types of development possible on the site. The conceptual plans ALSC produced refer to the project as the Freya Street Business Park.


One of the options in those plans, which Clack says he currently is leaning toward, involves construction of a 100,000-square-foot, four-story office building and two industrial buildings, each of which would have 90,000 square feet of floor space.


A second option includes building a total of 280,000 square feet of combined office and warehouse space in four separate structures, while a third option suggests erecting three industrial buildings with a total of 270,000 square feet of combined warehouse and office space.


All three designs include a main entrance to the business park from Freya Street and a second entrance, from the north, off of Boone Avenue via Julia Street. The various designs all show the buildings located toward the southern edge of the property, near the railroad tracks, with parking for between 350 and 520 vehicles located north of the buildings.


Clack says that he and Magnuson will be working for the next two months to firm up their plans. Clack says that Stockland is expected to move in June, and he hopes to have a better idea by then of what he and Magnuson will do with the property.


The stockyard has been good for the community, but we think the site has some definite new uses, Clack says.


Clack is former chairman and CEO of Old National Bancorp., which was acquired in 1987 by U.S. Bancorp. He also was a quad-chairman of Momentum, the civic economic-development movement here.


Magnuson has controlled and invested in a host of mining ventures, and also was a major shareholder in ONB.