Diamond buys Travo Building

The chief executive officer of Diamond Parking has added to his downtown Spokane real estate holdings by buying a four-story building that’s been owned by the same family for 60 years.

Joel Diamond purchased the 32,000-square-foot Travo Building on the northeast corner of Sprague and Lincoln for $1.7 million, said Patrick Kenney, of F.S. Barrett & Co., which handled the sale. The building will be renamed the Michael Building after Diamond’s 10-year-old grandson, Kenney said.

“We’re going to keep it as is and keep upgrading it,” said Dan Geiger, Diamond Parking’s vice president for the Spokane region. “As tenants move out we will redo the space, just keep it nice.”

The building has 28 apartment units on the upper three floors and street-level retail including a dentist office, a hair salon, a dress shop and an art gallery. The only vacancy is the corner restaurant space most recently occupied by JoeCo Brazils Restaurant and Liquid Lounge. That business closed in January.

The apartments range in size from about 900 square feet to a 2,500-square-foot unit on the top floor, Geiger said. As the tenants move out, he said, several thousand dollars will be spent to upgrade each unit.

“They would remain as apartments,” he said. “They’re currently not at the standard that they’re going to be.”

In addition to parking lots, Diamond’s other downtown real estate holdings include the Paulsen Building at 421 W. Riverside Ave., the Symons at 525 W. Sprague Ave., and the Marshall, which is just east of the Travo.

Lisa Dowers, Diamond’s leasing agent, said she is working with prospective tenants interested in the 2,700-square-foot restaurant space. They include Ian Wingate, owner of Moxie, a popular restaurant just down the street in the Marshall Building, at 816 W. Sprague. Wingate said he’s thinking of developing a banquet room and catering business in the space. However, he would not move Moxie, he said.

“We’re negotiating on the logistics of it right now,” Wingate said.

The Spokane County Assessor’s Office lists an assessed valuation for the Travo Building of $838,600.