Hotel owner still interested in EWU site

Davenport Hotel owner Walt Worthy said he expressed interest last year in purchasing Eastern Washington University’s five-story downtown Spokane building.

The building is sandwiched between two properties Worthy owns – the 17-story Wells Fargo tower and a vacant lot at First and Post on which Worthy is building a new hotel.

“I would probably still be interested,” said Worthy, following news Monday that Eastern is interested in selling the building and moving its Spokane operations to the Riverpoint campus. “I was interested and I still probably would be at the right price.”

County property records show the building at 705 W. First was built in 1968 and is assessed at $4.173 million. It occupies 17,000 square feet of land, or slightly less than half an acre.

Worthy said he walked through the building six to eight months ago and thinks it’s in good shape, though it “needs a good overhaul.” If he were able to purchase it, he said, he would renovate it and lease it out as office space.

Eastern officials said in Monday’s story that the building needs about $1 million worth of maintenance work. Eastern will ask the Legislature this session for permission to sell the building and use the proceeds for a move to Riverpoint, the story said. Eastern officials could not be reached for additional comment Thursday.

Dave Black, CEO of Tomlinson Black Commercial, whose headquarters is just down the street, said he thinks the building would be an appealing purchase. However, the building has no designated parking, so Worthy has an advantage over other potential purchasers because of parking available at his nearby properties, Black said.

“I happened to come to the office today and think that would be a great building to buy,” Black said. “It would be a great headquarters building for some company.”