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November 22, 2010 in City
Getting There: Hotel developer seeks stoplight near GU
Developer Jerry Dicker is teaming up with owners of the former Burgans Furniture store at Division Street and Boone Avenue to convert the 1918 structure into a three-story hotel with three restaurants.
Dicker, of GVD Commercial Properties, said he hopes to capitalize on the need for lodging for visitors to Gonzaga University.
But visitors on foot would have to cross Ruby Street, a busy, four-lane arterial that serves as the main northbound highway route through Spokane.
Dicker has asked engineers for the city and the Washington State Department of Transportation to let him pay for a stoplight at Ruby and Boone so that his guests could walk safely to and from GU.
The state has told him no, at least for now.
A traffic study financed by Dicker showed that the proposed hotel would generate approximately 80 pedestrian crossings between 1 and 5 p.m. on weekdays and more than 200 during events such as GU basketball games.
“We are going to be attracting people,” Dicker said.
A letter from WSDOT indicated that the expected foot traffic was not enough to warrant putting in a traffic light at Boone since the main light for the area is just one block north at Sharp Avenue.
Harold White, traffic engineer for WSDOT in Spokane, said the proposed light does not meet uniform federal guidelines. He said the city is separately undertaking a study of traffic and pedestrian issues along Division and Ruby that may have recommendations for the area. “Let’s see what that study tells us,” he said.
Dicker has letters of support from Gonzaga University officials and the University District Development Alliance.
“We believe the signal is a much needed addition to the neighborhood,” Marty Dickinson said in her letter from the alliance.
But WSDOT countered that the light at Sharp Avenue was close enough to serve hotel pedestrians.
Dicker said he thinks people will risk making the four-lane crossing without a traffic light and that he fears someone will be killed.
Traffic moving north on Ruby often exceeds the 30 mph limit in the area, he said, and a traffic light at Boone would add no more time to the drive north since drivers already stop for the light at Sharp.
Division and Ruby in that area carry 45,000 vehicles a day, and the state wants to ensure efficient movement of traffic, White said.
Dicker spent more than a year trying to negotiate with the city and state, which has held up the hotel conversion, he said. Plans call for completing the $12 million project in 2012.
Burgans closed in 2008.
“Our goal is to create a nice hotel that’s a good contributor to the University District,” Dicker said. “We are going forward with the project anyway.”
Dicker recently redeveloped the former Rodeway Inn at 901 W. First Ave. into the Hotel Ruby, a medium-priced boutique hotel that is themed to the arts and entertainment district near the Davenport Hotel.
DUI emphasis
The Washington Traffic Safety Commission is helping finance another “Drive Hammered, Get Nailed” enforcement effort to get impaired drivers off the road.
This year’s campaign begins Thursday and runs through Jan. 2, and will involve nine agencies in Spokane, Whitman and Pend Oreille counties locally.
Impaired driving contributed to nearly 11,000 deaths nationwide in 2009.
Second Avenue done for season
Temporary lane striping was placed on Second Avenue in downtown Spokane last week while the reconstruction project’s completion is being postponed until spring.
The contractor on the reconstruction from Howard Street to Sunset Boulevard ran out of time to get the final 2-inch layer of asphalt laid before cold weather arrived.
Traffic lights also were reinstalled last week.
A debate over designating a dedicated bike lane on Second will continue through the winter.
Closures and slowdowns
Wandermere Road will be closed today in the vicinity of U.S. Highway 395 to allow for construction of twin bridges that will serve as the interchange for the North Spokane Corridor.
Also, lanes may be restricted on U.S. 395 near Hatch Road to allow extra room for hauling loads to the construction site.
Elsewhere, the state is making repairs to the Interstate 90 interchange bridge at Tokio in Adams County northeast of Ritzville. Eastbound traffic is reduced to a single lane.
On U.S. Highway 195, work is under way to upgrade sections of guardrail near Rosalia from Cashup Flats to state Highway 271. As a result, some portions of the highway will be reduced to one lane of traffic with flaggers directing motorists.
Spokane Valley projects
In Spokane Valley, Broadway Avenue is now open from Moore to Flora roads.
Conklin Road is now open at Broadway with lane restrictions through Wednesday.
Dora Road between Sprague Avenue and Appleway will be closed through next Monday for utility work.
Returning farmland to a state of nature 
Dazzeetrader11 on November 22 at 1:27 a.m.
“Harold White, traffic engineer for WSDOT in Spokane, said the proposed light does not meet uniform federal guidelines. He said the city is separately undertaking a study of traffic …”
Regulations and then more spending by Verner. and DOT.
How friendly does it get. Let’s make it hard on those evil developers instead of helping them to make the city more attractive.
Further though….
“Dicker has letters of support from Gonzaga University officials and the University District Development Alliance.”…
Doesn’t this just fit with the coltrolling State and local officials? We pay these officials to do what? Retard the growth of the city unless they get their cut….which is exactly what this about.
Why pay for the officals to help the city when they obstruct?
I hope this doesn’t surprise anyone. Sad really.
ZagChuck on November 22 at 3:41 a.m.
Put the cart in front of the horse, and build a pedestrian lane before building the hotel? Create an additional traffic stop on a main through fare simply for pedestrians? Neither makes a lot of sense!
There’s a light one block north at Ruby and Sharp, and three blocks south at Ruby/Division and River Drive, are they both too far out of the way? “But WSDOT countered that the light at Sharp Avenue was close enough to serve hotel pedestrians.”
“Dicker said he thinks people will risk making the four-lane crossing without a traffic light and that he fears someone will be killed.” His hotel guests can be charged extra, and he can pay to build a sky-bridge on THEIR dime, not on the backs of taxpayers.
Additionally Red Lion has two hotels, one just off the southern end of campus, the other one block away, Oxford Suites and the Holiday Inn also have hotels within a 2 block radius of campus, so it’s not as if this will be the first hotel of its kind in the GU area.
Let them build the place, and then determine if there is a need for our tax dollars, rather than spending our tax dollars in advance.
okfine on November 22 at 7:55 a.m.
Did you guys miss the line about the “evil developers” willing to pay for the light. How many jobs would this hotel create? “Let them build it and then determine if there is a need”, I’ll bet you guys are the kind who would later say they should have thought about that before they built it.
pjc on November 22 at 8:15 a.m.
This city isn’t very good when it comes to traffic. Left turn signal lights are nonexistent and all the stop lights don’t seem to be synchronized.
Coffee on November 22 at 9:08 a.m.
If they are willing to build it why not just build an pedestrian overpass, that would be safer and would not slow traffic.
jddavis on November 22 at 9:35 a.m.
ZagChuck and Coffee are right on! Main arterials do not need more stop lights. If people will walk from that location to the Kennel, then they will walk one block to an existing crosswalk. I’m all for business and jobs, but creating another stop for traffic in that area is not a good plan.
EdubU on November 22 at 10:29 a.m.
Spokane’s traffic flow and traffic light synchronizing has always baffled me. To the point that there is no flow. I don’t get it. Perhaps someone can enlighten me.
Dazzeetrader11 on November 22 at 11:19 a.m.
DOT and the City…they can’t get it right. Traffic is a mess but Verner puts ina bike path highway losing 2 lanes of traffic downtown. Just the thing Spokane needs….worse those is the inability of the peole to have enough management skills to let the “eveil developers” do what they do best.
Stoplights cost $75K- $150 K….double if the City or State puts them in. The overpass should be about the same. Give them the green light and get DOT and the City out of this. Government inspectors are fine…but Government management of a project is costly in dollars and time delays
Regulations and government control kill projects that might bring some tax dollars. Verner is too distant and too incompetent. to figure this out. She like the bike and trees. Old vacant buildings don’t generate business or tax money. Maybe she’d like to buy another old vacant building?
nomdeplume on November 22 at 6:32 p.m.
Daisy, please take some time before you comment so that you don’t look foolish to those who know more about the project than you do. The developer’s request for, and denial of, a traffic signal on Ruby does not hold up the project. Never did. Dicker says as much when he says he is going forward with the project.
You might also want to question why Dicker ignores the fact that pedestrians might go other places than Gonzaga (the Veteran’s Arena is just as close) but does not mention any “fears” about pedestrians attempting to cross Division, or any attempts by him to “protect” them with a signal.
Dicker is attempting to get sympathy when none is deserved.
terryalan on November 22 at 8:27 p.m.
As was pointed out, there is not a dearth of hotel rooms in the area…this is not filling a need, it is a venture pure and simple. The traffic on Ruby is too heavy and critical to the North/South traffic movement for another impediment to the flow of traffic. I’d like to see a comparison between the addition to the tax base the hotel represents versus the financial impact of impeding the flow of traffic and commerce….
Once the North/South freeway is complete this might change…..but probably not until……………
ChefGus/ John Olsen on November 22 at 9:09 p.m.
It is 300 feet to the stoplight that is already present…. but perhaps the high end folks don’t really walk anyway… gus
Dazzeetrader11 on November 23 at 11:52 a.m.
Nom…you must know about the project. The point was that Dicker is asking for some support for his project. DOT and the city aren’t giving it. He’s willing to pay for the work himself. It’s the permitting that’s not given. Is there a reason? You sound like you’re in a position to know. Sympathy? He’s after sympathy? How so Nom?
It sounds like he needs some cooperation so his project is successful. How different is this request from say Greenstone getting co-operation for Kendall yards? When Dicker is willing to pay, why would you say he’s looking for anything but a green light? Do you know?
The focus of the article is that DOT and the City won’t let him use his own money to provide access and safety. And yes I did read the article…and I understand it. How about you? You know something NOT in the article?
GVDRyan on November 23 at 2:03 p.m.
I am writing in response to the various comments to the Mike Prager article.
• We, as the developer, agreed to pay for the signal.
• The signal would be “linked” to the Sharp signal and would turn red only when the Sharp signal turned red.
• This would create a “gap” allowing pedestrians to safely cross.
• WSDOT said that their only concern with the proposed linked signal was the possible slowing of northbound “industrial traffic”. The University District is “pedestrian friendly” and should not be sacrificed to a possible few second delay to northbound industrial traffic.
• Finally, since WSDOT believes the North-South freeway will be soon built, at least to the Spokane River, much of the industrial traffic will be removed from northbound Ruby, thus alleviating WSDOT’s concern.
• We will proceed with the “reduced project” notwithstanding WSDOT’s position, but firmly believe that WSDOT is in error. The community should insist on the “linked” signal.
nomdeplume on November 23 at 9:00 p.m.
Daisy, if your really did read the article the reason for denying the signal is given.
The developer is using a strawman argument that the DOT and/or the City has held up/is against the project, and you have sympathized with him with your baseless “retard the growth of the city unless they get their cut….which is exactly what this about” comment.
Cooperation is not required to make this project successful, but a little less myopia might be helpful.
The “safety game” is easy to play. The definition of what constitutes “safe” is relative, and occasionally is used in a self-serving manner in an attempt to establish a moral high ground. In this case, why hasn’t the developer stated a concern for guests that stay in this proposed hotel who might cross Division to attend an NCAA playoff game at the Arena? Does the developer truly believe that crossing a four-lane facility on the west side of the hotel is a “safer” activity than crossing a four-lane facility on the east side? Probably not, but admitting that does not promote their attempt to make DOT the bad guy or allow them to say that “WSDOT is in error”.
Does Marty Dickinson not care about pedestrians going in directions other than GU? Of course she does, but that argument does not serve the developer’s purposes or help the story, does it?
By the way, you might want to revise your $75-$150K estimate for a pedestrian overpass, as well as your entrenched opinion of government. Both have some error.
ChefGus/ John Olsen on November 26 at 9:36 a.m.
Have any of you actually looked at the physical distance from Burgans to the stoplight that is already there for “safety”? This would be a waste of money… that same 150K could keep a library open for a year..good grief… and the donation to the Library by this Corporation would garner a LOT of public positive publicity…. think about it and bring the checkbook to city council on monday night for the discussion….:))