New Building For State Offices Needs Scrutiny

One of the best things that could happen to downtown Spokane is landing a big new high-paying office employer.

A hefty dose of affluent workers injected directly into the downtown spending stream is just what the doctor ordered to cure retail jitters.

And such is the allure of a new scheme to pool in one centralized location hundreds of state employees now working in a dozen offices scattered about the community.

State Treasurer Dan Grimm and private developers are asking state legislators for $17 million to build a state office center north of the river just west of Monroe.

Their big pitch to the state Legislature is that the state would end up owning its building, instead of renting as it does now, and this would save taxpayers big money in the long run, say a quarter of a century.

But that claim is hotly disputed by some, especially landlords of buildings who stand to lose state tenants targeted for relocation.

So what, from a purely selfish point of view, is the bottom line for the overall Spokane community? It’s anybody’s guess.

For starters, rounding up office workers from the four winds and plunking them down in one spot, attractive as that may appear, doesn’t automatically make economic sense.

Sure, the state’s projections show a long-term savings, and this may even turn out to be so. But don’t bet the rent money.

And if bureaucrats are allowed to embark on a costly state building program over an extended period of years, one thing is guaranteed: Government will cost more.

There are other tradeoffs, as well.

While consolidating personnel from around town may net a couple hundred workers for the greater-downtown vicinity, most state offices with leases expiring anytime soon would pick up and move only a few blocks. At any rate, that’s what the state’s very-hazy relocation plan seems to indicate to me at present.

And if that’s the case, the bulk of relocated employees will end up within roughly the same walking distance of the retail core as they are right now. So, no big deal.

Furthermore, some of the buildings targeted to take the biggest hits when tenants relocate are important downtown core structures. One is an architectural prize only recently restored to historic certification standards and enrolled on the national register.

The new state office building would be incorporated into Metropolitan Mortgage’s planned Summit Project near the county courthouse. A big plus in my book is that the state building could lend impetus to the residential element of the so-called “urban village” development.

All of which leaves me ambivalent.

Much to my surprise, so is a key state administrator.

“I have mixed feelings,” confesses Al Morgan, facilities planning manager for the state. “This project can be a good deal if the economic numbers come in right.

“In my old head (he’s been in real estate 40 years, most of that time with the state) it makes good sense to do something like this (own your own home) if we get things done at a price we can afford.

“But we don’t necessarily have to build a monument to state government in Spokane,” says Morgan. “And public employees are not absolutely required to have the most luxurious quarters in town.

“When I first started with the state 27 years ago, I started with my desk in the hall,” he recalls. “And since then I’ve leased more real estate than anybody in the state - public or private.

“But as to this project in Spokane, there are a lot of pluses,” concluded Morgan, “and some negatives, too, you can be sure of that.”

That goes for the Spokane Intermodal Facility, too.

For readers who don’t recognize it, this is the city’s new combined Amtrak-Greyhound-Trailways transportation hub.

It occupies a century-old Northern Pacific Railway depot at W221 First that was remodeled, restored and expanded at a cost to taxpayers of $9 million.

But the doors were barely open when Amtrak announced a cut in the number of trains through Spokane from seven to four starting this week. The new/old architecture blend is masterful. But the place is almost always devoid of people.

It may be the least-used best-looking bus depot in America.

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The following fields overflowed: CREDIT = Frank Bartel The Spokesman-Review