Spokane7
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April 22, 2010 in Business, City
Work begins on Kendall Yards housing
From left, Mark Bitz, Jason Wheaton, president of Greenstone Corporation, Josh Schluter and Jim Frank, owner and founder of Greenstone Corporation, hoist a spruce tree into its new planting spot during a ceremony to announce first-phase construction and unveil plans for two styles of townhouses and single-family homes on April 22, 2010, at the corner of Bridge and Oak streets in Spokane.
(Full-size photo)
With the planting of a tree, developer Jim Frank today revived the Kendall Yards development on the north bank of the Spokane River.
The first 18 units of the $25 million residential and commercial project, stalled by the financial problems of the previous developer, should be ready by the end of summer, Frank told a crowd of more than 100 gathered on the site between Bridge and Ohio avenues.
He said more Phase 1 units would also be under way, but street access is not yet available.
Four of the units have been pre-sold, and the buyers were enthusiastic about their future homes and the proximity to downtown.
“The developers have really done their homework,” said Gene Decheff, who with wife Cheryl will move into a two-bedroom townhouse, a radical down-sizing from their 10 acres on the West Plains.
Neighbors said they are looking forward to the project, the successor to a railroad yard demolished in the 1970s.
“We’re glad somebody is finally going to get the project off the ground,” said Micele Malone, who lives nearby.
Phase 1 will include a 40- unit multifamily housing structure, 68 townhouses and single-family homes, and 20,000 square feet of commercial space.
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PhiltheBibliophil on April 22 at 2:49 p.m.
Sure hopes this helps out Construction unemployment, but I doubt it! Not with all the prices being beat down to what subs got 15-20 years ago while costs have risen. What do you want to bet this development doesn’t get finished for 20 years, if ever?
Shylock13 on April 22 at 3:28 p.m.
This development, I believe, is one in which buyers pay no real estate taxes for 10 years—one incentive to buy. However, the real estate taxes of the rest of us have to make up the difference.
When I look at the United States Constitution, I read that no one can be deprived of property “without due process of law” (5th and 14th Amendments), and that no one can be denied “equal protection of the law” (14th Amendment).
How, then, can one class of property owners (those who buy at Kendall Yards) be treated differently under the laws involving taxes than other owners of real estate?
Where is the ACLU and where are the Tea Party folks who so cherish the Constitution?
Ron_the_Cop on April 22 at 6:19 p.m.
Mr. Bear,
I have similar concerns. When does prime river front property need property tax incentives to develop? Further why do we still have TIFF financing of this project as well? S-R care to answer?
liarsinnews on April 22 at 7:40 p.m.
Mr. Bear, the ship of fools at city hall bend, turn, interpret, and blindfold the public the way they see fit. One thing that has always stuck in my throat is when the owners of the Spokesman Review building received the federal tax deduct for their historic building and no sooner had they cashed in on that, the Cowles were granted a 10 years tax exemption on the SR structure and even the land the building sits on. The family paid 0, zero, real estate taxes on either the structure or the land for 10 years. Stacy Cowles, wrote me a letter and tried to justify to me why the family was entitled to it.
SPOKANITE on April 22 at 9:56 p.m.
i would say that prime real-estate only became prime real estate after a fortune was spent ($6million?) cleaning up the former rail yard. The reality is that encumbered as it was with contamination, it makes it tough to compete with the likes of Eagle Ridge, etc…
SPOKANITE on April 22 at 10:01 p.m.
Just to clarify Bear, owners will pay real estate taxes on only the assessed value of the land for the next 8 years (12 if low income housing makes up a certain percent of the development). The assessed value of the improvements will receive the tax abatement for the next 8 years.
zelda on April 22 at 11:01 p.m.
I’m thinking this improves the view for people dining and exercising at the Spokane Club.
This is one of those deals like sports stadiums where on face of it everybody is supposed to be a winner but it’s going to be awfully hard years later to detail the exact benefit to taxpayers. It’s like a deep, disembodied voice is telling us, “Behold Kendall Yards…and it is good.”
While this is going on, I’m still wondering who’s going to clean up all those failed condo-conversion buildings on the other side of the river. Citizens and downtown workers are having to pay for the cost of that blight so in terms of community benefit, the ledger sheet shows that we netted zero.
Another_Perspective on April 22 at 11:30 p.m.
They missed the boat for not exacting acreage for a new jail in trade for the tax giveaway.
Remember in November.
booksandcoffee on April 25 at 3:46 a.m.
Sadly it will just make Spokane more avoidable for those of us who actually live here. It is already stupid expensive to live in town if you’re one of those unlucky low income folk who have to be where the bus line might or might not take you to work. Spokane is just not real good at getting useful things done. Of course a weekend in downtown Seattle might convince one that the inability to raise rents and increase population of the downtown area is a good thing for Spokane.