The Spokesman-Review Newspaper
The Spokesman-Review Newspaper The Spokesman-Review
Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883
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RPS development

The River Park Square mall redevelopment was a complicated public-private partnership between the city of Spokane and the mall’s owners, the development companies run by what is now Cowles Co. that ended in lawsuits. Cowles Co., through various subsidiaries and affiliates, also owns The Spokesman-Review, KHQ-TV and the Journal of Business.

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News >  Spokane

City seeks to reduce RPS losses

The city of Spokane's legal team went back to federal court Thursday seeking to reduce losses to taxpayers in the failed 1997 River Park Square parking garage deal. Attorney Michael P. Cillo argued that two firms responsible for setting up the intricate garage deal should be held liable for a share of losses, or at least that a jury should decide the question of how much they owe.
News >  Spokane

City, RPS end legal fight

The city of Spokane and the River Park Square development companies have a signed peace treaty in their long-running legal war over the mall's garage. The former partners, which have spent nearly the last five years as legal adversaries, agreed Wednesday to the final details of an out-of-court settlement approved in December by the Spokane City Council.
News >  Spokane

Judge OKs one use of meter funds

Some $6 million in parking meter money the city of Spokane has been setting aside for nearly three years can be used for a key piece of the River Park Square garage settlement puzzle. Spokane County Superior Court Judge Robert Austin ruled last week the city can use the money to shore up a federally guaranteed loan. It can't be ordered to give any of the money to the downtown mall's former manager, who has a $6.5 million court judgment against the mall owners, the Cowles development companies.
News >  Spokane

Judge ponders RPS deal

A federal judge wrestled Wednesday with the sharply dropping values being placed on the River Park Square garage, wondering how a garage that sold for $26 million in 1998 could be worth about one-eighth of that just seven years later. U.S. District Judge Edward Shea also wondered whether the Spokane City Council was repeating a former council's mistakes as it tries to get out of the ill-fated mall deal.
News >  Spokane

City of Spokane fined in RPS battle

The city of Spokane will have to pay a fine of more than $21,000 to Camas Magazine for illegally withholding public documents on the River Park Square project requested by the magazine's reporter. Spokane County Superior Court Judge Richard Schroeder said the city was negligent in delaying the release of hundreds of documents about the downtown project requested by reporter Tim Connor in 2000. All of the documents weren't turned over until sometime in the spring of 2003.
News >  Spokane

Garage trial delayed until April

The federal trial over the River Park Square parking garage is being delayed until April to sort out some of the proposed settlements between the city of Spokane and some of its former legal opponents. The long-awaited trial was scheduled to begin the first week of January, but U.S. District Judge Edward Shea ruled Thursday that there are too many settlements to review, and too few working days left on the calendar to do that.
News >  Spokane

PDA getting out of parking business

The Spokane Parking Public Development Authority is out of the parking business. Some people would argue that it has been out of the parking business for years, because the River Park Square garage it was set up to oversee has been such a financial disaster that the agency never had any revenue to manage.
News >  Spokane

Developer’s bankruptcy filing may be dismissed

A bankruptcy filed by the Cowles development company that owns the former J.C. Penney's building is scheduled to be formally dismissed today by a judge who says it's unnecessary. U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Patricia Williams recently called the bankruptcy filing by CPC Development Co. "simply a device" to avoid posting a bond in the appeal of a $6.5 million judgment against CPC and three companies connected to nearby River Park Square mall.
News >  Spokane

City settles with downtown group

The Spokane City Council in a 5-2 vote on Monday approved one more settlement in the ongoing legal battle over the city's involvement in the troubled River Park Square parking garage. The Spokane Downtown Foundation has agreed to pay $800,000 from its liability insurance policy in exchange for the city dismissing claims against the foundation in a federal securities lawsuit scheduled for trial in January.
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