After two failed efforts to revive the Jensen-Byrd building in the University District east of downtown through a public-private partnership, Washington State University, which owns the century-old structure, has decided to put it up for sale.

The university says the sale could help accelerate development for medical and education facilities in and around the Riverpoint Campus, while a preservation advocacy group wants the university to ensure the six-story, 179,000-square-foot structure at 131 E. Main is preserved and restored.

Mel Taylor, executive director of real estate at Washington State University, says an appraisal is being conducted to help set the asking price.

"The price won't be below the appraised value, but it could be a little more," Taylor says.

The structure was last appraised in 2007 at $2.2 million.

Taylor says the university has decided not to seek historical designation for the structure or place any restrictions on its future use. WSU's board of regents, however, must approve the terms of the sale.

The Spokane Preservation Advocates, a nonprofit that seeks to preserve and enhance historic features of the Spokane area, is urging the university to seek a buyer that will restore the building rather than raze it.

"We encourage the university to craft the terms of the sale in a way that will encourage long-term investment in the building," says Matt Cohen, SPA president.

Taylor says WSU soon will call for proposals for representation from real estate concerns.

"It looks like we will have it listed for sale in July," he says.

WSU Spokane spokeswoman Barb Chamberlain says the university hopes the sale of the building, along with other planned construction and ongoing activity, will accelerate development of the Riverpoint Campus as a medical and health-education center.

The Martin Luther King Jr. Way project, also known as the Riverside Avenue extension, which will run near the building, will provide a pedestrian-friendly connection between the University District and downtown, Chamberlain says. Also, the university is focused on developing its planned 110,000-square-foot biomedical health-sciences building that's to be located on the north side of Spokane Falls Boulevard, east of the three-year-old Intercollegiate College of Nursing building.

"Both of those things have changed dynamics," she says. "It makes it a different kind of property than it was a few years ago."

The Legislature approved $35 million in bond funding last month for the planned $78 million biomedical-health sciences building.

Chamberlain says the Jensen-Byrd sale would be compatible with WSU's master plan for the campus here, which envisions construction of more than 300,000 square feet of additional space in coming years.

"That zone always was envisioned as a public-private partnership," she says of the Jensen-Byrd parcel and adjacent properties that WSU owns. "Now, part of it will be just private."

Proceeds from the sale would go toward the biomedical building, Chamberlain says.

"We're focused on the biomedical building, and getting it funded and constructed," she says. "We would hope the sale of the Jensen-Byrd building would speed up the master plan coming to life."

Meantime, Cohen says SPA has offered its assistance in nominating the building to be listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

"It's our top advocacy priority," he says. "It's a major historic building near downtown. I don't think there are any more buildings like it of that size."

The nonprofit has a grant program that helps certain building owners apply for historical designations, which in turn would make them eligible for tax credits and federal grants to help offset restoration costs, Cohen says.

"We can tap into networks and try to find appropriate developers," he says.

In 2008, the university approved a proposal submitted by NexCore Group LP, of Denver, which envisioned a three-phase development that was to begin with construction of a 60,000-square-foot medical office building at the southeast corner of Spokane Falls Boulevard and Pine Street, just northwest of the Jensen-Byrd building. That building was to be called the Musculoskeletal Center of Excellence, with Arthritis Northwest PLLC, of Spokane, as the anchor tenant. NexCore planned to redevelop Jensen-Byrd building in the second or third phase of development that involved 3.5 acres of land formerly delineated as the Pine Street Development.

As economic effects of the recession lingered, NexCore was unable to sign other tenants and begin constructing the Musculoskeletal Center of Excellence. WSU extended NexCore's development option a second year, before cancelling the agreement, Chamberlain says.

While NexCore's proposal for the Pine Street Development is off the table, the company recently submitted a preliminary proposal to the city of Spokane Valley for a phased medical-office complex that would be developed in partnership with Providence Health & Services, in the Hanson Center East commercial park. That complex, to be called the Providence Health & Services Providence Medical Center, would include two three-story, 70,000-square-foot medical office buildings.

Arthritis Northwest isn't involved in NexCore's Valley proposal, says Karen Ferguson, the practice's administrator. Arthritis Northwest currently occupies 9,000 square feet of space, at 105 W. Eighth.

NexCore executives couldn't be reached for comment.

The NexCore proposal was the second failed development bid involving the Jensen-Byrd property. In the university's first call for development proposals in 2005, WSU selected a joint-venture proposal by R.B. Goebel General Contractor Inc. and NAC|Architecture, both of Spokane, to develop the property, but the parties failed to reach an agreement.

Prospective buyers and real estate concerns have shown recent interest in the building, he says.

Spokane development company Wells & Co. had submitted a proposal to redevelop the Jensen-Byrd building in 2008, when WSU selected NexCore as its development partner.

Ron Wells, a principal at the company, says he remains interested in the Jensen-Byrd Building.

"I'm watching for the listing to come out," he says. "We're working on revising our plans and estimates, because we did an extensive amount of work for it in response to an RFP before, including working on the financing aspect."

The Wells & Co. proposal included converting the second through sixth floors and half of the first floor into apartment units and redeveloping the basement and half of the first floor for commercial uses, such as entertainment, office, retail, and food services.

Cougar Property Holdings, an arm of the nonprofit WSU Foundation, bought the building and other properties near it in 2000 and 2001 and later transferred ownership to the university. The building has been vacant since 2004, when Jensen Distribution moved the last of its operations still located there to its main facility on the West Plains.