Spokane7
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March 9, 2011 in City
Shawn Vestal: Deteriorating Ridpath doesn’t help downtown
The once-luxurious Ridpath Hotel has been slowly deteriorating since it closed in August 2008.
(Full-size photo)(All photos)
If you want to feel good about what’s happened in Spokane over the past several years, take a stroll around the Davenport.
If you want to feel lousy, walk around the Ridpath.
A landmark Spokane hotel – though a rung below the Davenport’s nostalgic league – the Ridpath has plunged into disgrace. The windows are cracked and covered with graffiti. Garbage and old mattresses pile up inside. Entryways sport crushed beer cans and reek of urine. Transients have been getting in, and a recent city inspection found dead animals, garbage and feces – human and animal – on the floor. Above the old entrance on First Avenue hangs a flag that looks like something out of a battle scene – gray, torn and tattered.
Attorney Greg Arpin, whose office is nearby, has watched the deterioration since the hotel closed in August 2008. He reached a breaking point a couple weeks ago as he walked to lunch.
“There was just an odor coming out of the place,” he said. “It smelled like a garbage dump.”
Now, prompted by a complaint from Arpin, the city is trying to get the hotel cleaned up. The property has been posted with a notice of violation, and the various owners have been notified that the building appears to be “substandard” under city code – unsanitary, dilapidated, broken plumbing, inadequate weatherproofing, fire hazard …
Some of the property owners – of whom there are several – say the blame lies primarily with the Las Vegas firm that owned most of the Ridpath tower until a foreclosure in December. It’s now owned by 515 Spokane Partners LLC, which was formed by the lenders.
Greg Jeffreys, who owns the top two floors of the tower plus the neighboring Y building to the west, said the former owners, 515 Washvada Investments LLC, essentially abandoned the building after closing the hotel. The foreclosure should help open the way to get the hotel cleaned up, he said, and to move forward with plans to restore and reopen it.
A hearing is set for April 5, though property owners can begin tackling the problem sooner, of course. Heather Trautman, code enforcement supervisor, said her office has already heard from four property owners, and would like to see them propose a solution. If they don’t, the city can require compliance, charge fees and take other measures to get the mess cleaned up.
“Our goal, as always, is compliance,” she said.
The ownership of the Ridpath block is a tangled web. Even before it was closed, the hotel was essentially being pieced out, divided into condominiums and sold to different owners. Proposals to start nightclubs and restaurants fell through. Foreclosures and litigation have followed.
The city identified six owners in its violation notice: Jeffreys’ companies, Sundevil Investments and Poachers Rock; Club Envy of Spokane LLC; 515 Spokane Partners; Bank of Whitman; and Michael R. Maddy.
Efforts to contact Spokane Partners and Club Envy were unsuccessful. Maddy, who owns a real estate company in Polson, Mont., owns the Halliday building to the east of the tower. He said he planned to start addressing the city’s concerns this week, and there were signs of work at the building Tuesday.
Jeffreys said it’s been frustrating for people who’ve invested in the hotel to be stuck with few options, as Washvada stopped communicating with other owners. He’s optimistic that the foreclosure is going to open the door for a new life at the hotel. He said he and others have been in discussions with potential national operators.
“We’re working toward making a deal that would get that entire block up and running – by the entire block, I mean the Y building and the (tower),” he said. “We’ve got more than tire kickers. … They’re realistic.”
The more you know about the Ridpath, the more you want him to succeed. Opened in 1900, the hotel has a rich history as a central Spokane landmark. Elvis stayed there. Parts of “Vision Quest” were filmed there. The newspaper archives are full of old photos of election night parties and formal balls. More recently, the top-floor restaurant and bar, Ankeny’s, had perhaps the best nighttime view of the city around – along with its loungy, piano-bar stylings.
Chuck Bartlebaugh is a Missoula man who comes to Spokane periodically in his work with the Center for Wildlife Information. The last time he was here, he saw that flag on First and was taken aback.
“I saw the flag, and it really was profound to me,” he said. “It was kind of standing over our bad economic times. It was like a battlefield.”
The flag has gotten the attention of veterans in town, too – plenty of whom have brought it up at the VFW Post 51 Hall, said Paula Holmes, post manager.
On Tuesday, Jeffreys said he didn’t know about the flag. Though it wasn’t on his piece of the building, he said, “I’ll take that down.”
Arpin said that he’s glad the city is moving to get the building cleaned up, but he wishes it hadn’t taken so long.
“What does it take for people to see what brings downtown down?” he said. “It’s stuff like that, that they just let go and go and go.”
Shawn Vestal can be reached at (509) 459-5431 or shawnv@spokesman.com.
The draw of the unknowable 
liberal_in_right_wing_land on March 09 at 6:41 a.m.
Sad, but the fall of this hotel started when it was owned by WestCoast/Red Lion Hotels who refused to update the hotel and refused to put any money into the hotel as they tried to sell it. By the time they sold the hotel it had fallen into such disrepair the only thing to do was shut it down during the recession as nobody was traveling and remodeling a old hotel did not make since.
While it seems most of the current owners are lazy idiots, I place a large part of this blame on the Barberi’s who owned the hotel and were too lazy and cheap to update it……way to help a Spokane landmark fall from grace…..sad that this family is from Spokane and they still seem to have no respect for their city.
tomnsahl on March 09 at 6:53 a.m.
2 of the least relevant comments ever !
THIS IS A SHAME for all of Spokane and the “blame” is on ALL OF US, not the Barbieris. The Davenport renewal started with public awareness and a groundswell of community activism. Let’s turn the wasted finger pointing energy into saving OUR Ridpath.
liberal_in_right_wing_land on March 09 at 7:24 a.m.
Actually Tom 52, I have first hand knowledge about this since I was in management and worked with the Barbieris when they owned and were trying to sell the hotel. And yes, it was company policy to put NO money into the hotel, or ANY hotel they were trying to sell at the time. The Ridpath was NOT the only hotel this company let fall into disrepair from neglect, while they decided whether they wanted to be Cavanaugh Hotels, WestCoast Hotels or Red Lion Hotels, it was just the only one in Spokane that has history.
So yes, I can, and will, blame the Barbieris for their hand in letting this hotel become irrelevant, since I watched it first hand. So before calling my comment irrelevant, maybe ask why I might come to this conclusion.
lewis8457 on March 09 at 7:27 a.m.
the entire end of he city the rid path sits needs cleaned up too. i walked by there yesterday and what a mess and stench.
As our city nickles and dimes us to death. They allow the center of our city to go to hell.
lewis8457 on March 09 at 7:28 a.m.
linda anyone refinancing their home now is an has a screw loose, my opinion
west on March 09 at 7:38 a.m.
Diamond Parking lot???
de3 on March 09 at 9:14 a.m.
When buildings go abandoned and lie in disrepair and begun to fall apart, it is known as urban decay.
The Ridpath is not the only such property in Spokane, They are today everywhere in the city and even more so in Spokane Valley. That is the truth and it hurts.
tomnsahl on March 09 at 9:22 a.m.
tsk tsk lib - believe it or not, this article is not about you. Glad you finally figured out how to spell the name of your nemesis; sounding much like a bitter ex-employee who takes things too personally and calls others “idiots” … lol
This is Spokane’s blight and we will have to collaborate as a community to bring about positive change.
sister2 on March 09 at 10:23 a.m.
Shame on all who have a part in this and let it get to this point of disrepair ! Who runs the city? Who is responsible?
NO! to another high-living condo/apartment situation.
How about a place of real affordable living to help all those who desire to not live on the streets, those who need help.
Lulubelle on March 09 at 10:47 a.m.
another example of how developers are sooooo interested in the well being of the city. No, they are interested in “cuttin’ the fat hog” and if the plan goes sour, they cut and run.
greenlibertarian on March 09 at 11:01 a.m.
The Ridpath is no comparison to the Davenport, never was, never will be. Overall, Spokane’s downtown has fared better than many other similar sized cities, but of course that came at a great cost to the taxpayers and thru graft, i.e. the RPS fiasco.
If most of the existing debts associated with the Ridpath can be cleared in bankruptcy, it might make some business sense to refurbish and reopen it as a moderately priced hotel, once the economy picks up enough to support such. If you could do so tomorrow, it’d just siphon folks staying at other competing DT hotels. The demand is not there right now.
zelda on March 09 at 11:11 a.m.
Aren’t there two sections of the Ridpath with the two parts across the street from each other? As I recall, there’s the hotel and the “motor inn” with underground parking.
Unlike the Davenport, I can’t see any great architectural significance in this hotel, but maybe I’m not seeing it for what it is. Plenty of history, though.
Way back when, the company I worked for used the Ridpath for events because the Davenport was such a wreck. Now I’d say that the Ridpath is decaying along with lots of other downtown buildings. Walk down the sidewalk on the south side of Sprague west of Monroe on the other side of the Fox. You’ll smell the decaying hulks before you see them.
And yes, @de3, it’s even worse in Spokane Valley. The E. Sprague, Mullan and Argonne business districts look like Chernobyl. They don’t even bother to set the for-lease signs upright after the wind knocks them over. The true heart of Spokane Valley is Fred’s Ding and Dent in oh so many ways.
spokanative on March 09 at 11:55 a.m.
The responsibility rests with the current muddled ownership. City staff need to enforce codes and put teeth into enforcement. Slumlords usually respond only to financial penalty. In the short term this is another failure of a downtown business mirroring a local economy that has been stagnant for years. Spokane has been a brain drain of enterprise and vision for decades. Unless we can attract more diverse tech based businesses, our service economy will continue to stumble along and development will be non existent. I don’t agree that our downtown has fared better than most, unless you are thinking of the rust belt. There are medium sized cities in Montana that are sprouting tasteful deveopment even during the recent recession. Tacoma is reinventing itself with downtown housing and museums. The much diversified Tri Cities economy has fostered jobs and upscale development during a recession.
The Ridpath sadly may be just the beginning of more urban blight in this community.
Dazzeetrader11 on March 09 at 12:03 p.m.
Barbieris get their hands on a property and it deteriorates. There is no doubt about it. Very little maintenence in their plans…never has been and won’t be. The patriarch of the family taught his children well. It’s just their management style.
Might be best to tear the main hotel down. To the South is the motor in. It might be salvageable. Parking is very limited. Needs a parking structure. The place is a disaster. Where’s the city in all this? Again, Verner and her police have never secured the building…….so people just break in. It’s a deterioration of the central core. Nobody in city hall has enough management skill or vision enough to figure this out.
Looks like another private/public partnership is on the way.Tough times to rehab anything. Just no money for it. Look for the buildings to continue deteriorating. Bad deal for Spokane.
DickAdams on March 09 at 1:34 p.m.
Daisy, another public/private partnership? Yikes! The taxpayers have almost 2 decades left, to pay off the River Park Square public/private partnership swindle. Rabbit for the public and a horse given to the private. Enough already. Unless the Mayor Verner`s of the world prove otherwise, no more partnerships for me. Mission impossible.
DemoDriver on March 09 at 3:44 p.m.
One of the things I always liked about this town was the old buildings. That Spokane was so collectively broke when other cities tore down their vintage brick everybody had to make do, leaving it there until it was “cool” again, then rebuilding all the original structures that were spared the explosives and the bulldozers other cities ran amok with decades before.
So there is faith that something will be done with the old Ridpath other than letting it stand as perhaps “Spokanistan’s largest public crackhouse.”
One would hope it’s not condos of ANY kind, but even that would be better than replacing it with some heartless hunk of glass and steel.
DickAdams on March 09 at 3:52 p.m.
I just thought about something. For starters, the previous owner is not responsible for crying out loud. Since when if you sell something as is, you expect to blame someone else because of needed repairs? Heck, maybe the buyers may have blundered. I`ll wager the price was right when they purchased the hotel. The only party to blame are the current owners. Or maybe the bank that handled the financial transaction. Oh, BTW, if I purchase a car with 400,000 miles on it, there is no way I`ll receive a guarantee from the previous owner. Makes about as much sense. Those who are pointing the finger at the previous owner, seems to me, were behind the door when the brains were passed out.
zelda on March 09 at 4:28 p.m.
@Jim Kirkland — You have good points. The current time feels a lot like the late 70s when a lot of downtown Riverside was boarded up and abandoned.
I wish I could think that this area had the vision and political will to change, but probably not. Consider this — an executive of a large, progressive tech company is moving to Spokane. He meets with a realtor to look at houses. She tells him, “Spokane doesn’t have a crime problem because there are hardly any minorities.” Those attitudes are ingrained, deeply embedded and seem to be intensifying. If this is how Spokane is selling itself to outsiders, is it any wonder there’s so little progress?
AnalyzeThat on March 09 at 7:48 p.m.
I miss Ankenys!!
spokanative on March 10 at 2:41 p.m.
Zelda -did that actually happen? It is truly shocking that someone could be that ignorant. Even if they listen to all the mean babble on talk radio, you would think that they would realize what century it is..The community is certainly not served by realtors who scare away decent folks. If that is the prevailing belief around here, then help us all!
We need to decry the backpack - would be bomber and let the world know that we are not a haven for racists. Are we?..
Brian_Bonicamp on March 22 at 11:26 a.m.
Although I am fairly new to the area the story on the Ridpath Hotel caught my eye. I think that the city, along with a corps of concerned citizens could raise enough money to buy this building, and along with Federal Funds could restore it, as we did with the Davenport. This building dating from turn of the century is irreplaceable and should by all means be preserved
before it suffers any further damage.