City Poised To Take First Step In Convention Center Expansion Project

A study that could lead to a doubling of convention space in downtown Spokane will come before the City Council on Monday.

It could catalyze redevelopment of prime properties that have languished under-utilized for literally decades in the heart of the core.

The council is being asked to approve a study contract that the Sports, Entertainment, Arts & Convention Advisory Board (SEACAB) negotiated with a team of designers and consultants headed by Integrus of Spokane.

The $185,00 contract is the first step in a process that foreseeably will produce a construction project running far into the millions.

The study is needed to know whether there is a market for expanding the city’s existing convention facilities. These are the Spokane Convention Center and adjoining Ag Trade Center on the south bank of the downtown riverfront, along with the Spokane Arena on the north side of the river.

“We think we need to double, at least, the space we now have for conventions,” said Mike Kobluk, the city’s director of entertainment facilites. “The marketing portion of the study will tell us if that is so. And other parts of the study will say how much we should spend.”

In addition, the study team will calculate the economic spinoff from expanded convention and visitor trade, increased spending in the community, employment gains, and added tax revenues.

“Also, the study will determine whether it is advisable to expand in the immediate vicinity of the Opera House,” said Kobluk, “or whether it is possible to give up this site altogether and move to another location

“At this point,” he said, “three sites are being looked at - the block just across Spokane Falls Boulevard, the land to our east on this side of Division, and Metropolitan Mortgage & Security Co.’s Summit site on the north bank of the river.”

A full-blown study, including recommendations for a preferred site, a building concept, an overall project cost estimate, and funding options, will be completed by June.

Project could revive Summit development

The bid to build an expanded convention center on the north bank of the river also includes plans for a new grand hotel adjoining the Monroe Street Bridge.

The combined projects could serve to jump-start the stalled Summit project, says C. Paul Sandifur, chairman and chief executive of Metropolitan. His firm is owner/developer of the 90-acre Summit tract, stretching west about a mile along an abandoned railroad right of way.

“It would be a big help with the rest of the project,” says Sandifur. “We’ve had one thing after another fall through on that end of the site, which is critical to the entire project.

But the overall conceptual plan continues to be a mix of residential dwellings, retail shops, business and government offices in an “urban village” environment. “That has not changed,” Sandifur assured. “And we’ll get it done, however long it takes.”

Research Council sets priorities

The non-profit Washington Research Council is widely respected for its non-partisan political point of view.

It is highly regarded as well for an informed membership that is, as staff economist Kriss Sjoblum notes, “very representative of business.”

In a recent survey, without coming down on either side, members ranked variations on the theme of taxes, spending, education and transit as this legislative session’s top nine priorities.

Why not 10?

After nine, economist Sjoblum explains, there was such a big drop in interest that the remaining items really couldn’t be classified as priorities, and were lumped together as secondary issues.

This, though the unranked issues included some of the hottest items on the agendas of such lobbying powerhouses as the Association of Washington Business and the National Federation of Independent Business.

The so-called “other issues” of the Washington Research Council included:

Health care.

Regulatory reform.

Welfare.

Land Use/Growth Management Act.

Water rights.

Work force training.

Telecommunications.

Accounting for the difference in perspectives, economist Sjoblum said a sizable part of the think tank’s membership is made up of government and academic entities. Also, while the council has 400-some member subscribers, its mailing list totals 1,600 persons. “So the survey went to some employees of members,” he said.

“This was not a representative business sample of mid-America,” he said. “This was a mixed response to business concerns and broad personal concerns of people in business.

“Looking at AWB,” he said, “they tend to represent strictly the business side of their membership’s concerns.”

, DataTimes MEMO: Associate Editor Frank Bartel writes a notes column each Wednesday. If you have business items of regional interest for future columns, call 459-5467 or fax 459-5482.

The following fields overflowed: CREDIT = Frank Bartel The Spokesman-Review