In an era when large swaths of commercial real estate properties have emptied and remained unleased for extended periods, owners have turned to creative alternatives that can repurpose their vacant properties. 

While many developers turned to renovating commercial real estate buildings into multifamily dwellings, Luke Kjar, owner of the Mode Campus in Liberty Lake, thinks he's found the ideal property to house a school, accompanied by space for a cross-section of professionals to meet under one roof. 

The idea, he says, was to simplify the complex lives of professionals and parents by convening essential services, industries, and amenities, and eliminating the need to drive around town to several locations every day. 

“In the beginning, it was a total real estate play to see if there was a building that could facilitate both,” says Kjar of finding a place that could accommodate a school and community space. 

Then the pandemic hit, and the commercial real estate market began to pivot, he says. 

Jim Frank, owner of Liberty Lake-based Greenstone Corp. and one of the owners of the Meadowwood Technology Campus, a 70-acre property comprised of four office buildings with 450,000 square feet of office space, suggested Kjar tour the property. Inside, Kjar saw a sea of cubicles with about 75 people working in person. 

“It was a total ghost town,” Kjar says. “(Businesses) were clearly not renewing leases because they were unsure about the future. Jim Frank said to me, If you have another idea that is not cubicle office space, we may be able to work a deal on this building for your school.” 

In October 2022, Kjar purchased the largest of the four buildings, a 220,000-square-foot structure with two floors and a basement on 21 acres of land located at 2110 N. Molter Road, just under 2 miles north of the town’s namesake body of water, Liberty Lake. According to the Spokane County Assessor’s office, the property was purchased for $11.3 million. 

The private school, Liberty Lake Academy, located on the second floor, has entered its third school year and has 200 enrolled students from kindergarten to 11th grade. Renovations to the 120,000 square feet of commercial space on the first floor and basement were completed in spring. Leasing of office suites to marketing firms, architects, attorneys, tech companies, and entrepreneurs is underway. As reported by the Journal of Business, LaunchPad Inland Northwest LLC, a tech industry and events organization, partnered with Mode and moved into its coworking space, LaunchMode, where it occupies 15,000 square feet dedicated to LaunchPad’s work with startups at various stages of development. 

Sandpoint, Idaho-based Loft Thirty One LLC, and Coeur d’Alene-based Stoa Studios PLLC provided design concepts and services to the space. Mode is designed in the stylings of Kjar’s Danish roots and includes a simple, elegant aesthetic that improves working conditions, he says.   

“It’s quality yet it’s minimal,” Kjar says. “So it simplifies the mind.” 

The cafeteria at Mode looks out to the amphitheater on the 21-acre campus. - Karina Elias

Nearly half of Mode’s 50 office suites have been leased, Kjar says. Office suites range from one person to nine people, are fully furnished, and come with 24/7 access. The office suites are interlaced among the open coworking spaces, several private meeting rooms, and amenities such as a yoga studio, a café, a full-service gym, a podcast studio, and a music academy.  A pottery studio and a physical therapy suite are slated to open in coming weeks. 

In the Danish language, “Mode” means to gather with purpose, Kjar says. As a father of five kids, ranging from 3 to 14 years old, Kjar wanted to build a community in which every moment of his family’s day was filled with purpose and efficiency. 

“I get to live the dream … I’m living what I built,” Kjar says. “I drop my kids off and walk into this space and I’m working … I’m pouring into this to make it what I want my vision to be.” 

Looking ahead, Kjar foresees more vacant commercial spaces coming to market and in need of a new purpose. He hopes to set the blueprint for others to create similar community spaces. 

“We need this, and there’s potentially an opportunity on the horizon for these buildings to be changed to centers like this,” Kjar says. “We hope that maybe we can do some of those ourselves after this model or other people see this as a functional model that can be built again.” 

As reported by the Journal of Business, the city of Liberty Lake approved a zoning change to the Meadowood Technology Campus in 2022 that allowed for new land uses, including drawing upon increased residential and commercial operations. The new mixed-use zoning designation allows for the development of schools and training centers on-site, as well as small restaurants and retail stores. 

Frank purchased the complex in 2010 from Santa Clara, California-based scientific instrument maker Agilent Technologies Inc., a spinoff of Palo Alto, California-based electronics manufacturer Hewlett-Packard Co. The Mode building is one of several originally built in the late 1970s by Hewlett-Packard, Kjar says. The building and campus have had different tenants over the years. 

Mode functions under a membership credit-based system in which credits, each worth $2.50 can be purchased and used for a variety of services, Kjar says. Members can tailor their experience to include credits for the services they use, such as yoga, coworking space access, pottery classes, or a CrossFit membership, for example, Kjar says. Members can do individual memberships or family memberships in which the credits can be transferred and used among family members. 

“We really want families to plug in here and save a ton of money,” he says. 

To make the most efficient use of members' time, all classes begin at the same time. For example, if a parent wants to go to a yoga class while their kids are at a jiujitsu class, there is no worry about the child’s class being over before the parents’ class. 

“I geek out on all these little details because that’s what affects my life,” Kjar says. “We’re doing this program with purpose.” 

Kjar’s vision first began with a focus on education. He drew inspiration for the school’s curriculum from his Danish heritage, Finland’s educational model, and other successful educational models, such as Montessori, the Waldorf School, outdoor learning, and project-based learning to forge an alternative option to public schools, he says. 

“Our own Launch Academy curriculum is a beautiful tapestry of best practices we see in education,” Kjar says.

The academy’s high school students, who span from ninth grade to 11th and will eventually add a 12th grade, are enrolled in the Universal Pathways Program at Arizona State University with the intent of obtaining an associate degree upon graduating from high school, Kjar says. Math and English teachers at the academy facilitate class discussions and tutor students on the material, he says. 

The school has doubled in size since it started and has room to grow, he says. Liberty Launch Academy has 100,000 square feet of dedicated space. Outdoor amenities on the 21-acre property include an amphitheater, basketball courts, and recreational space.