City Leaders Seek Support For Big Retail Project But Critics Label Proposed Downtown Development ‘Corporate Welfare’

Politicians and business leaders Friday began building public support for an $80 million downtown shopping mall, saying it is needed to keep Nordstrom downtown.

Opponents also geared up for public debate of the project, saying the proposal smacks of “corporate welfare.”

Flanked by Seattle Mayor Norm Rice and Spokane City Councilman Joel Crosby, the owners of River Park Square presented their plan in a private meeting to 100 business leaders. The proposal would close a block of Post Street and erect a new mall for Nordstrom and other, smaller retail stores.

The project, which might involve taxpayer money, is aimed at keeping Nordstrom from closing its downtown store when its lease expires in 1999, downtown developers said. They say The Bon almost surely would leave downtown if Nordstrom closed.

“We have a plan to benefit the entire community,” Crosby said in an interview after the meeting.

“We can either convince people based on the positive benefits - supporting the police, parks, tourism dollars and jobs - or the negatives. What is the cost to downtown and the city if we don’t do this?” he said.

Opponents such as John Talbott, who like Crosby ran for mayor in 1993, said stopping the project would save taxpayers’ money.

The project is “corporate welfare, pure and simple,” he said. “If they want a new downtown, they can build it themselves with their own money.”

Talbott said he would rather see the public funds spent on North Side and Browne’s Addition residential improvements, road repavements and beefed-up security citywide.

Crosby said that the $80 million investment would be “revenue neutral.” The only public funds, he said, would come from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development.

The City Council will evaluate independent studies and receive public testimony before making any decisions about the shopping center, Crosby said. If approved, construction could start as early as July and be finished in 1998.

The project calls for an investment of $80 million in private and public money to redevelop two blocks of River Park Square and erect a glass atrium over Post Street for a pedestrian mall.

The proposal to close Post Street, between Main and Spokane Falls Boulevard, fits into the city’s plans to replace the Post Street Bridge with a new bridge on Lincoln Street.

River Park Square owners Citizens Realty Inc. and Lincoln Investment Co. would develop the shopping mall. The companies are affiliates of Cowles Publishing Co., publisher of The SpokesmanReview. River Park Square announced the project Thursday.

Rice said Seattle faced a similar threat from Nordstrom in recent years before the city poured $400 million into its downtown core. The investment created 2,500 permanent jobs, $35 million per year in tax revenue and persuaded Nordstrom to stay.

“Everybody wants a Nordstrom in their downtown; we’re just lucky that we have them,” said Rice, who becomes president of the U.S. Conference of Mayors in June. “We need to make sure we keep them.”

Don Barbieri, president of Goodale & Barbieri Cos., which developed the downtown Crescent Court, said the new shopping project would help create an additional 100,000 square feet of specialty store space needed by downtown workers and tourists.

“I’m the biggest advocate of this project,” he said.

But Spokane attorney Stephen Eugster, a frequent critic of public and private partnerships, said the shopping mall was too ambitious.

“The character of downtown is going to be destroyed,” he said.

The development coincides with a separate proposal for a Parking and Business Improvement Area. If approved by the City Council, the district would tax property owners and receive $200,000 from reinstated city parking meters to beef up downtown security, beautify the area and promote shopping and tourism.