City, community, and arts leaders are combining efforts to improve a vacant lot at Third Avenue and Division Street—currently filled with rebar, bits of broken concrete foundation, and dried-out weeds—by putting up a portable, 420-foot plywood fence that will be decorated by local artists.

Downtown Spokane Partnership, the city of Spokane, and the Spokane Arts Fund are collaborating to provide what they call an improved visual gateway to the city on the 36,000-square-foot property. 

The partially-excavated lot at the northwest corner of Third and Division, among the first pieces of real estate drivers pass when they exit Interstate 90 onto Division, Spokane’s main north-south arterial, is owned by Rita and Reese Santillanes. They had started to build a 115-room Best Western Plus Peppertree Inn there in 2008 before the project stalled. 

“The initial financing fell through,” Rita Santillanes says. “And then when we took a second look at it, it was about the time Walt Worthy announced he was building another 700-room hotel. So there’s not really any need for another hotel right now.” 

The Spokane Arts Fund issued a call for artists last week, says director Shannon Halberstadt, who says she hopes to receive submissions from a diverse group of local artists. Artists can apply to paint up to five, 8 foot-by-4 foot barriers with weather-resistant coatings, suitable for outdoor installation. Plywood panels and a materials reimbursement stipend of $45 for each panel will be provided, Halberstadt says.

 “The project kind of blew up on social media and has a lot of community support,” she says. 

Installation of the project is scheduled for early October, she adds. 

Jonathan Mallahan, who runs the city’s neighborhood services division, says the total budget for the project is about $11,000.

“We like the idea of turning a community liability into an asset,” Mallahan says. “As people come into the city, they’ll be able to see art from local artists and community messages rather than a vacant lot. And it’s something we can reuse.”

Mallahan says there will be an opportunity for the community to offer opinions on what community messages they would like to see. A couple of erasable chalkboard panels also will be provided where community members can write messages. 

“There will be a couple of those,” he says. “How many will be contingent on the number of proposals we receive from (artists).”

The property is listed for sale by Coldwell Banker Tomlinson Commercial for $2.5 million. The Spokane County Assessor’s Office lists the value of the property at $1.5 million. 

When Mike Allen, Spokane city councilman, heard about the project, he decided to throw some money behind it to get things rolling. 

Allen says that because he went without an assistant for three months this year, he saved about $9,000 in his budget and decided to offer it up for materials for the fence. 

“The area is in my district,” he says. “It’s an opportunity to reinvest in the community.” He calls it “an elegant solution many cities have used.”

Allen says he also supports the fence because it’s a portable setup that can be used at other construction sites or other places in the city where something like that is needed. 

Santillanes, who owns four Best Western Plus Peppertree hotels—two in the Spokane area, one in Auburn, Wash., and another in Omak, Wash.—says she’s glad the community is joining together to work on the project. 

“I think it will be a nice addition, and that’s a main avenue where people come into the city,” she says. “I think it will be great for tourism.”