Spokane Public Radio, which has leased space on North Monroe Street for 30 years, says it plans to buy a historic structure in the planned Pacific Bridge redevelopment project downtown and add a state-of-the art studio there. Meanwhile, the company that's developing Pacific Bridge says it's moving ahead with other elements of the project, including a transaction that will allow a public market to open there next year.

The Pacific Bridge development is envisioned to encompass an entire city block bordered by Browne and State streets and Pacific and Second avenues, southeast of the city core. BR3 Development Group LLC, which is owned by five Spokane-area businesspeople, hopes to redevelop the five vacant buildings there for a mix of uses that include office, residential, retail, the public market, and now Spokane Public Radio, the National Public Radio affiliate that broadcasts primarily on KPBX-FM.

Spokane Public Radio says it has committed to buy a 9,000-square-foot building at 19 W. Pacific, at the southwest corner of State and Pacific, as well as a vacant lot just to the west. The nonprofit plans to use the building for its offices and to construct an adjoining, 7,500-square-foot studio on the vacant lot. Kat Langenheim, who formerly headed a capital campaign to redevelop the Fox Theater for the Spokane Symphony, has been retained by the station to head its planned capital campaign to pay for the project.

That project is expected to cost nearly $9 million, and the organization plans to launch a $9.8 million capital campaign to fund the project and provide for a $1 million endowment to support future operations, says Scott Miller, Spokane Public Radio's board chairman.

Construction of the new studio and renovation of the adjacent historic building won't get started until Spokane Public Radio has received commitments for 65 percent to 75 percent of the funding, Langenheim says. "That could be two years away," she says.

Meanwhile, BR3 Development Group expects this month to complete the purchase of the vacant former Roses & More warehouse along Second Avenue on the south side of the development block, says Chris Batten, president of the development company. It then plans to lease out roughly 80 percent of that 25,000-square-foot structure to the nonprofit Spokane Public Market, which seeks to establish a year-round indoor market and is separate from the farmer's market held at Fifth Avenue and Browne Street. He says he expects the public market to open for business there late next spring.

Batten says the remainder of the space in that building will be leased to Juliet Sinisterra, of Spokane, who plans to open a "green-living general store" there called Sun People Dry Goods. Batten says she hopes to open there in the fall.

Also, BR3 Development has received a change-of-use permit and a building permit from the city of Spokane to begin redevelopment of the vacant Duquesne Apartments building, at 31 W. Pacific, into an office building. That structure sits on the north side of the block, to the west of where Spokane Public Radio plans to locate. BR3 Development has named Basso LLC, of Spokane, as project manager for the work, and expects construction to begin by the end of this month.

Rencorp Realty, the law firm Parsons Burnett Bjordahl LLP, and the nonprofit Spokane Neighborhood Economic Development Alliance (SNEDA) plan to move into that building by late fall, Batten says. The real estate company and law firm are owned by members of BR3 Development. SNEDA has collaborated with Rencorp Realty to form a for-profit company named Property Rehabilitation Corp. to create living-wage jobs through real estate development, Batten said earlier.

BR3 Development also plans to build a 50-space parking lot in the middle of the block "before the snow flies, so we will have a presentable and marketable property," Batten says.

He says Spokane Public Radio's commitment to the block "gives us leverage." He adds, "Knowing that they're committed to the block gives us a higher level of credibility for what we're doing with possible tenants and lenders."

Batten says having both a public radio station and a public market commit to a project that will redevelop a deteriorated downtown block gives Pacific Bridge a unique nature.

"The net effect when all these things come together is substantially greater than any other neighborhood," he contends.

BR3 Development and Spokane Public Radio expect to sign a purchase and sale agreement for the properties on Pacific this month. Then, the station, which also operates KSFC-FM, will move forward with its capital campaign.

The radio station's new facility will include a new broadcast studio, upgraded digital equipment, better office space, and more room for its extensive music libraries, the broadcaster says.

Spokane Public Radio says it has needed new quarters for some time. Its current space, on the second floor of a building at 2319 N. Monroe, is cramped, it says, adding that it has offices there that have been formed out of closets, and that a leaking roof has damaged expensive equipment and rare music albums. Also, a steep staircase has limited participation in station activities by disabled staff, volunteers, and on-air guests. The station's music library is cubbyholed throughout the building, and radio programs produced in its studios sometimes are interrupted by sirens on the street below, it says.

The new studio on Pacific Avenue will be designed by Russ Berger Design Group, a Dallas firm that also designed the broadcast studios of National Public Radio, in Washington, D.C.

The new facility will be built to silver standards in the Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) system, and will be equipped to national production and acoustic standards for broadcast radio, the station says.

Spokane Public Radio says it has 18 full-time and 12 part-time employees, plus about a dozen volunteer hosts and producers and more than 300 other volunteers. KPBX programs are supported by more than 200 underwriters each year, as well as listener donations. Its broadcast area spans about 20,000 square miles in Eastern Washington, North Idaho, northwest Montana, northeast Oregon, and parts of British Columbia.

The building the station plans to purchase on Pacific, which was built in 1911, is on the National Register of Historic Places and the Spokane Register of Historic Places. From 1936 to 1951, a printing company there produced a weekly newspaper, named Labor World, that focused on issues relating to organized labor unions in the region. Later, it was home to the Gasthaus Krone restaurant, and more recently to the advertising firm BHW1.

Langenheim says Spokane Public Radio looked at 34 different sites before settling on the Pacific Avenue properties.

That location "met a lot of our goals," she says. "Public is our middle name. We were interested in being involved with the University District and Chris Batten's group. We were interested in moving to a downtown area that needs a little help."

Because it's within the University District, a city of Spokane targeted development area, the station expects to receive financial help from government including tax incentives and deductions, waivers of fees, "green" incentives, and Americans With Disabilities Act tax credits.

Batten says BR3 Development's next project on the block will be the redevelopment of the State Street Flats apartment house, located on State between Pacific and Second, into modern working-class apartments for "the gal that's working at Starbucks, the public market, or KPBX." That brick apartment building was gutted by fire in October 2009.

After that, BR3 Development hopes to renovate the Forester Building, at the southeast corner of Pacific and Browne. Batten says the group hopes to secure tenants for the building that will help create "the right mix" on the block by activity that is "collaborative in nature." The 15,000-square-foot building at the southeast corner of Pacific and Browne Street once held a dance hall on the second floor that could be used as an events center, and the basement could lend itself to case storage for a winery, Batten has said.