A bankruptcy court trustee has chosen a Spokane management firm to run the Montvale Hotel, the downtown Spokane boutique hotel saddled with more than $3 million in debts.

Rob Brewster, the owner of the Montvale at 1005 W. First Ave., filed for Chapter 11 reorganization in February.

Trustee David Gardner, an attorney with Spokane firm Winston & Cashatt, said he chose Hotel Market Solutions to manage the 36-room hotel and find a way to make it profitable again.

Hotel Market Solutions, with offices in the Paulsen Building, manages a number of regional hotels, including the former Howard Johnson at 211 S. Division, and a hotel in Post Falls.

Brewster, who is reeling from several downtown property foreclosures, bought the Montvale in 1998 and converted it into a stylish downtown hotel that honored its early 20th-century character.

Gardner said the Montvale bankruptcy’s secured debts come to roughly $3 million. Unsecured debts include nearly $140,000 the state says Brewster owes in back taxes.

Gardner said he chose HMS to manage the Montvale, at 1005 W. First, in large part because of the reputation of Fred Schoener, director of operations for HMS.

 “Fred has managed a number of local hotels and he understands the local market,” Gardner said.

HMS took over the Montvale in late April and is running the hotel with a full staff.

Gardner also said he’s not certain whether the hotel should be sold or if HMS should continuing running it.

If it remains unsold, he said the goal is to create a payment plan that directs the profits to its various creditors, said Gardner.

He also recently shut down the Catacombs Inn, the restaurant in the hotel’s lower level.

“I could not verify that there were any licenses (for the Catacombs) on record,” he said. As part of the reorganization, Gardner said he’ll consider reasonable offers from anyone wishing to buy the restaurant.

All other businesses in the hotel, including the eatery Scout, continue to operate normally.

Sports fashionistas, this one's for you.

Vancouver, B.C.-based Lululemon Athletica will move to a larger downtown Spokane location later this year. The athletic-attire retailer currently has a “showroom” location at 117 N. Howard St.

Its plan is to relocate to 707 W. Main Ave., in the space used recently by women’s apparel retailer Cues. Cues managers closed their downtown store on Saturday. Cues owner Trisha Thoen said she’s searching for a new location and plans to relocate by the fall.

It was only a period of time before we'd have another chance to talk about the Mosquito problem — or the Mosquito solution, depending on whom you ask.

Downtown businesses have again started working out solutions to preserve a sense of well-being and calm in the face of younger folks not having anywhere else to hang out. The problem has led some busienesses, such as the Symons Building, to add devices called the Mosquito, which emits a high-pitched sound meant to discourage loitering. Our big story on the effort ran on April 7.

City Councilwoman Amber Waldref will tackle the topic on Wednesday this week during the regular “Council Connection” TV broadcasst, airing at 6 p.m. on CityCable 5.

The show will feature  Downtown Spokane Partnership Director Mark Richard, Spokane Police Chief Frank Straub, Spokane Transit Authority Director Susan Meyer and STCU President Tom Johnson. 

“The central business core is the lifeblood of our city,” Waldref explains. “Our guests on Wednesday are working hard to make downtown Spokane safe, vibrant and accessible to all our citizens.”

She'll also accept calls from viewers during the show.

Council Connection” programs also can be found on the City’s web site.  Go to www.spokanecity.org/services/citycable5/streamingmedia.

Spokane Club board members want to sell the club’s Spokane Valley facility.

Here's the link to today's story: http://www.spokesman.com/stories/2013/apr/05/spokane-club-is-gearing-up-to-sell-its-valley/?print-friendly

The former Central Park Racquet Club was purchased by the club in 2000 for roughly $3.2 million. Since then the private social and athletic club has spent about $3 million on upgrades.

The reason why: debt and the need to refocus on the club's main role as a central location downtown, for athletics and social events.

Something not reported in that story: Cory Barbieri, of Goodale & Barbieri Company, said he's acting on behalf of one of the potential buyers of the former racquet club.

He's unable to identify the buyer. It is an investor-based group that has experience operating tennis clubs, Barbieri said.

Who is the guy at the controls of the excavator tearing up the old Cyrus O'Leary's restaurant in downtown Spokane?

It's Louis (Louie) Ray. The owner of Ray's Demolition has been there before. Read the story in Thursday's Spokesman-Review.

Photo by COLIN MULVANY

We'd hear rumors for weeks that a number of area folks were considering buying the Bing Crosby Theater, a major part of entertainment history in downtown Spokane.

We got the word earlier on Thursday that the deal was done; local property developer Gerry Dicker put together a package and signed the deal recently. We reported that on Spokesman.com earlier.

Here's a 1951 photo that shows what the building, at the corner of Lincoln and Sprague, looked like. At the time, it was the State Theater, having gone through a few changes after starting life in 1915 as the Clemmer.

Dicker said he'll maintain the building as a theater and keep the Bing Crosby name.

Photo source: The Spokesman-Review

The unofficial results are in: one third of the respondents to our Starbucks budget survey said they expect to spend more there this year.

Five of 16 respondents said yes, and you can see the other responses for yourself right here.

Thanks to those who helped answer the survey.  Gotta leave for now, I'm off for my morning cup …

WHAT'S YOUR STARBUCKS BUDGET? ANSWER THE SURVEY BELOW

For much of the past three years, the Office Hours staff has made its daily visits to the local Starbucks store, plunking down cash for java and pastry. Sometimes the experience is more about meeting folks from area businesses, rather than the Joe.

The Wall Street Journal's story Tuesday on Starbucks highlights the chain's surprising growth in amount of money spent via card-based purchases. A key statement:

“Last year, purchases made on the (Starbucks) cards accounted for 18 percent of the company's revenue. Starbucks doesn't split the transactions by country, but assuming purchases were almost all in the United States, they accounted for 27 percent of domestic retail sales. That compares with 13 percent in 2006.”

What could be driving that growth, especially as the company has been steadily increasing the costs of its drinks the past four years?  Please take this informal survey below. (Click SUBMIT after checking your answer.)

Judie and Ryan Sowards are leasing a downtown Spokane storefront for a new Euro-styled creperie called Beignets, in the Crescent Building, at 707 W. Main.

The mother-son team believes Spokane foodies are ready for a place that full-service business that serves thin, French-inspired crepes and other lunch and dinner items. They plan to open the business in June.

Ryan Sowards said the name is meant to convey atmosphere and variety. Diners will be served fresh beignets — deep-fried pastries — before the entree, he said.

They’re leasing 3,800 square feet at in the back side of the building, directly behind Madeleine’s Cafe. It’s The Sowards are taking the space once used by Cucina, Cucina.

They plan to serve breakfast, lunch and dinner.

Stephen Pohl and Jon Jeffreys represented property owner Red Tail LLC. Chris Bell represented the Sowards. All three work with NAI Bla

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Restoration and renovation are more than halfway done at two downtown Spokane buildings, including the former Empire State Building.

Part of the work at the Great Western Building, at 905 W. Riverside, includes renaming it the Empire State Building, the structure’s original designation. Built in 1900, it’s was called the city’s first fireproof structure. In recent years it's been known as the Great Western Building, at the corner of Lincoln and Riverside. 

Work includes removing the stucco sign band façade above the first floor and exposing the original “Empire State” name. You can see the stucco and sign facade in the Google Maps view above (if it displays properly for you).

Goebel Construction is the contractor with architectural help by Patsy O'Connor.

A new skylight has also been installed, said Alicia Barbieri. Both projects are overseen by Goodale & Barbieri Co.

The Michaels Building, one block away at 828 W. Sprague, is completing interior and exterior work. It was first called the Germond Block Building. The top three floors have been converted from apartments to offices, with final plans depending on tenants.

Goodale and Barbieri owns the Great Western Building; the Diamond Family owns the Michaels.

No renovation costs were provided by the two firms.

Apple retail stores, including the one in downtown Spokane, will close for part of Wednesday to allow staff workers to celebrate Steve Jobs. The celebration will run from 10 a.m. to 11:30 a.m.

During that time, employees company-wide are invited to view a live broadcast of a Jobs celebration occurring at  an outdoor amphitheater at Apple's headquarters in Cupertino

Jobs, the co-founder of Apple, died recently after a struggle with pancreatic cancer.

Thursday morning new openings (an update):

These two you may have known about already.

• Trader Joe's will open Oct. 28 in the Lincoln Heights Shopping Center. Good luck with parking that weekend. Smartly, TJ's knows it has to be open a few weeks prior to Thanksgiving.
• Title Nine, the fashionable outerwear and sports wear apparel company, recently opened a store on South Perry in the Perry Street District. A good company, with an interesting gamble on where it's set up its shop. See our earlier story.

And not least, the Sapphire Lounge, at the corner of Lincoln and First, will do a grand opening this weekend. This is the front-side intimate lounge-eatery attached to the Hotel Ruby, operated by Jerry Dicker and partners. 

The lounge will do a soft opening tonight and Friday. Saturday is more or less a formal opening, according to Dicker. The lounge normally operates Wednesday-Saturday, with the option of reserving the space for functions the other days of the week.

Sante restaurateur Jeremy Hansen did not remain in the executive chef role. An earlier story from the SR described him as the architect behind the Sapphire Lounge menu. Dicker said they chose to go separate ways.

Paul Samson, the bar manager, will still be working the lounge, said Dicker.

The manager of Far West Billiards, a downtown Spokane food-and-pool hangout, said the business is closing after 10 years in operation. Closing is expected to be Thursday night

Yvonne Millspaugh said she decided to shut down in anticipation of major remodeling that building landlord Rob Brewster is ready to start.

The billiards business, at 1001 W. First, has been owned by Andrew Sackville-West and other LLC partners. Sackville-West has moved to Portland and is allowing Brewster to take over the space, Millspaugh said.

 Brewster said Sackville-West has been an exemplary business tenant in the building. But he also noted the Far West has been late on rent payments in recent months. At the same time, Brewster said he's seeing plenty of tenants in the area also struggling to cover their bills.

Brewster has developed a number of downtown properties, including the Montvale Hotel and the Catacombs Restaurant.

Brewster said he’ll announce  plans for the Far West space in several weeks. “It will not include billiards,” he said.

Our newsroom colleague Paul Turner mentioned in his Slice column recently the appearance in downtown Spokane of the word “think.” on a mural not far from the heart of town. The source, at the time, was unknown. He later got a message from Dennis Magner, one of the founders of Spokane ad agency Magner Sanborn. Magner explained how the word got there.

The company had just moved this summer into newly remodeled offices on the third and fourth floors of the Banner Bank Building, 111 N. Post.

Magner and partner Jeff Sanborn were looking for some way to crystallize ideas, especially for people in the company’s brand new conference room, which looks out to the east over the roofs of the next block.

They settled on a single word, painted on a wall 50 yards away.

In his note to Paul, Dennis wrote:

So at one level, it’s like having something staring back at us when we’re staring out the window. At another level it’s a reminder to our staff that good “thinking” is the core product that we provide. And hopefully it reminds some other folks to think along the way as well.

 Can anyone else find something similar in the community, a calling card or corporate slogan that has  become a quiet (or noisy) part of the landscape?  Please let us know if you know of something that fits.

We wonder when workers downtown at the new Apple store will install the stainless steel plate and laminated Apple logo to the front of the two-story building.

Until you see it, here are a few drawings from the city’s building permits that show the basic plan and roughly what it looks like. The front wall of the building will be about 34 feet high, to the roofline, and about 41 feet wide along the sidewalk. The doorway will be roughly 7 feet in height.

In a soon-to-be-posted second Apple retail update, we’ll post a short video of the work taking place there, at 710 W. Main in downtown Spokane.

Officially, Apple Inc. still hasn’t announced this is an Apple store.

The company doing the construction work at the former Eddie Bauer building, in downtown Spokane, recently painted a plywood sheet black to block views of renovations inside the retail office space, at 710 W. Main.

We knew for months that this is the Apple retail store going into River Park Square. Today a workman was adding a stenciled Apple logo to the black wall. We got this image. This is just a temporary wall but it’s the only “official” indication the store is going in. Sometime in the fall the store logo will be added to the facade.

We asked Apple headquarters for comment and received a note saying no announcement yet has been made. Which is Apple’s way of saying, “It doesn’t count until we say it does.”

The opening will be in the fall but an exact date isn’t set yet.

Downtown Spokane women’s clothing retailer Talbots is leaving its 706 W. Main location, effective Aug. 21. Its lease expires the end of this month, a Talbot’s employee told us today.

We’ll provide some kind of reward — non-monetary— for the reader who can convince us they really know who will move into that location.

Disclosure: We work for the Cowles Co., which also operates River Park Square, Talbot’s landlord. We asked company officials who would go in there. They were mum, as of Tuesday.

I’m guessing the company taking that spot outbid Talbots when the lease came up for renewal. Whoever that company is, they might feel it’s to their advantage to be next door to 710 W. Main, where Apple will open a retail store this fall.

Apple is taking over the location of Eddie Bauer, one door west of Talbots.

We’d known for awhile that contractors were filing and obtaining permits needed before Apple Inc. moves into a new Apple Store in downtown Spokane.

We found the permits online and ran a story this afternoon. It’s here.

The managing architect for the $400,000 remodel is listed as Dimple Manghani of MBH Architects, based in Alameda Calif. MBH lists as its clients Apple, J Crew and Target.

The online permits filed on behalf of Apple in Spokane are at https://aca.spokanepermits.org/CitizenAccess.  To find them, use the address search box, with 710 W. Main.

Search for 710 W. Main, the former address of Eddie Bauer’s River Park Square Store, to see the listed permits. No opening date is listed anywhere, though we have city sources suggesting it won’t be until August or September.  Just in time for school.