Crosscut, a Puget Sound online news publication, listed its 2011 Heritage Turkeys, a list of notable examples of communities and groups failing to maintain historically relevant places.

On the list was the Washington State University decision to sell the Jensen-Byrd building in downtown Spokane. That decision was reported at Spokesman.com the day after the sale was announces.

Crosscut columnist Knute Berger singled out the Jensen-Byrd deal as especially notable since the National Trust for Historic Preservation next fall will hold an annual conference in downtown Spokane.

He quotes Chris Moore of the Washington Trust for Historic Preservation saying: "WSU had an opportunity to really be a preservation hero. Instead there will be a hole in the ground where a National Register-eligible building once stood."

WSU in its defense said the buyer will build a new structure with plenty of housing for students using the area's University District. 

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