December 15, 2011 in News, City

Jensen-Byrd building buyers will tear it down

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The Jensen-Byrd building in the University District east of downtown Spokane will be demolished by its new owners, Austin, Texas-based Campus Advantage. The company plans to build housing for about 425 students on the site.
(Full-size photo)

The 102-year-old Jensen-Byrd building at the east end of downtown Spokane will be torn down by its new owner, a Texas company that plans to build student housing on the site, an official of that company said Wednesday.

Washington State University sold the building to Austin-based Campus Advantage for $2.85 million, turning down a competing offer for the same amount from Spokane developer Ron Wells, who said he would have preserved the historic building.

WSU officials said Campus Advantage’s offer made more financial sense. Wells’ project would have required WSU to give him a nine-month window to line up financing and complete the process of establishing possible tax credits.

The Campus Advantage offer “was a cleaner deal for us,” said Mel Taylor, WSU’s executive director of real estate. The Wells offer would have meant another waiting period, while the one from Campus Advantage was straightforward and assured the university that the entire building would be used for student housing, Taylor said.

Wells’ proposal was similar to the one he provided to WSU in 2008; both involved upper-level high-end apartments, with student apartments on three middle floors of the six-story building. He proposed office and retail spaces on the ground level of the former warehouse near the WSU Spokane campus.

Wells called Campus Advantage’s plan to tear down the building “disappointing.”

“That’s one building I will hate to see go,” he said.

Taylor said WSU officials consider it a priority to add new and affordable student housing in the University District east of downtown.

In addition, Taylor said, WSU is currently trying to raise about $1.45 million to push forward with plans to add a second-year medical education program in Spokane. Taylor said WSU needs to raise those funds before the school can go to the Legislature and request additional money for the program.

“So we got both benefits: cash from Campus Advantage for the biomedical program, and we’re getting 400 student beds as well,” Taylor said.

Scott Duckett, a vice president with Campus Advantage, said the company plans to demolish the building starting next summer. It expects to spend about $25 million on the new building, which is expected to have about 125 student units, with beds for about 425 students.

Units will be either 2- or 4-bedroom rentals that range from $500 to $600 per person monthly, he said. The cost will cover all utilities including cable and Internet.

Duckett said the company tried to find a way to preserve the Jensen-Byrd building but failed to find a workable plan. He said the interior’s closely spaced pillars and low ceilings make it difficult to use for residential units, and converting the structure would have left the company with half as many units as it wanted there.

Duckett said Campus Advantage realizes many area residents consider the building historically significant. The company intends to reuse bricks for the walls of the new building. It also plans to reuse some interior beams in common areas and in some of the recreation spaces planned inside the new building.

Matt Cohen, president of Spokane Preservation Advocates, said the Texas company and WSU are both failing to see the long-term advantages of renovating the Jensen-Byrd building.

“They’re missing an opportunity here,” said Cohen, who is also an associate professor of architecture at WSU Spokane’s campus. “Preserving bricks is not the same as historic preservation.”

The WSU Foundation bought the building in 2001, then leased it to Jensen-Byrd, which used it as a warehouse until 2004. In 2004 it was sold to WSU; it’s been vacant since.

The failure of the 2005 and 2008 projects was a factor that influenced the regents selection of Campus Advantage, said WSU’s Taylor. “We tried twice before to make something work, and it didn’t take,” Taylor said.

10 comments on this story so far. Add yours!

• 

  v1grwil on December 15 at 8:25 a.m.

  Ron Wells has a proven record to modernize Spokane while protecting the incredabile architure in our city. WSU’s short-sited 2-dimensional view is fast cash-more rooms.. period. What a bunch of morons. WSU has their PHD instructors starting at six figures. Don;t forget the union driving up higher ed costs. Be careful of agenda driven, over educated types like Taylor. In his drive to tear down our history so he can get a 2nd year medical school ( to get more student tution and higher priced instructors) are we going to have a medical school, in new buildings, with low student attendance with our tax base base wildly increased. Don’t forget Spokane, WSU does not PRODUCE anything, not one job. All they do is get our tax money and keep building these monuments to nowhere.
  Mean while, that beautiful Jensen Byrd building is gone-RIP.

• 

  Al_Loysius on December 15 at 9:15 a.m.

  There were some real zingers in the comments with the article when it was posted Wed. night:

  http://www.spokesman.com/stories/2011/dec/14/jensen-byrd-building-slated-demolition/

• 

  Verbal on December 15 at 9:39 a.m.

  Thanks for the link, Al.

  I hate the way this website double posts articles.

• 

  johnclarke on December 15 at 10:09 a.m.

  Don’t forget Spokane, WSU does not PRODUCE anything, not one job. All they do is get our tax money and keep building these monuments to nowhere.
  Mean while, that beautiful Jensen Byrd building is gone-RIP.

  Um, you’ll have to explain that one. First of all, WSU does not employ anyone? You mean no one in Pullman works there? Second, how do you think Ron Wells puts those projects together? TAX CREDITS. Duh.

  Drive by on I-90 and take note of what Spokane looks like. Enough historic buildings already.

• 

  johnclarke on December 15 at 10:12 a.m.

  mods…please delete my duplicate post.

• 

  skime on December 15 at 10:27 a.m.

  Ron Wells is a crook with our tax dollars! WSU is a huge employer in Spokane. WSU produces employees who pay taxes and start their own companies that employe people who pay taxes. I’m very happy to have the U-District here in Spokane and all of the students and the employees that work there. Lets keep it growing, that is where the jobs are.

• 

  toms on December 15 at 3:47 p.m.

  Explainer for why there are two stories sometimes on spokesman.com. Stories that carry enough weight are posted well before the end of a working day. Later around midnight, the internal system that manages the print version of SR stories exports that group in a batch to Spokesman.com.

  By necessity, that will sometimes create dual stories.

• 

  monarch on December 15 at 4:30 p.m.

  I’m unclear how this deal is going to work. Is the new owner going to renovate it and then lease it back to WSU for student housing? Under federal law I don’t think a private owner can limit housing to students only. That would be discrimination against families and the elderly.

• 

  mtharves on December 15 at 7:03 p.m.

  Thanks for the info toms, but when you export a group, export the comments with them. It is disconcerting to have two threads on the same story. Many of us don’t stay up late at night to take advantage of the new posts and miss out on the comments. Some of them are actually valuable.

• 

  Rand on December 15 at 10:53 p.m.

  Ron Wells????? The same Ron Wells who wrote an op ed claiming that it was his duty to pay more taxes and that all “the rich” should pay more taxes? The same Ron Wells that is now asking for TAX CREDITS in order for him to bid on this project? Seems as though forgoing these tax credits would be one way for you to “pay your fair share” you crony capitalist. The hypocrisy is quite stunning yet not at all surprising.