Metropolitan Pitching Summit Property Company Contends Site Is ‘A Better Alternative’

The view from the southeast corner of the Summit property is an impressive vista of downtown Spokane and the Spokane River.

Metropolitan Mortgage, owners of the site, would like that view to be seen from inside a new convention center.

The 88-acre Summit site stretches along the river’s north bank, from Monroe west to High Bridge Park.

It was one of four sites considered for an expansion of Spokane’s existing convention center by a design team made up of a local and a national architectural firms and Price Waterhouse consultants.

Using criteria such as proximity to hotels, size and cost, the team ranked the Summit site third, behind its top choice, the site just south of the existing center. Second choice was a site just east of the center.

The Summit site received particularly poor grades for its distance from downtown, its inaccessibility to the hotels preferred by convention organizers and the cost of building an entirely new center.

Metropolitan Mortgage officials, however, disagree with the findings.

They argue their site is no farther from downtown, as defined by the River Park Square development, than the existing convention center, and a developer would be interested in building hotels near the site.

And by working with private developers, Metropolitan officials argue they could save the city money while providing more square footage than expanding the existing center.

“This is a better alternative,” said Erik Skaggs, Metropolitan’s government and community relations director. “What we want to bring to the table is less expensive and provides good value to the community.”

Building on the Summit site, Skaggs said, would provide room for future expansions, would not require expensive tunneling (as is proposed for the preferred site) and would benefit the West Central area.

However, Metropolitan’s plan is dependent on an outside developer with convention center experience, and thus far, that developer has not materialized. Skaggs said Metropolitan hopes to have one by year end.

Members of the city’s Sports, Entertainment and Convention Advisory Board, which is charged with developing the expansion, say they been waiting for months to see firm plans from Metropolitan.

“I would welcome them to come forward,” said Tyrus Tenold, a SEACAB member and chairman of the expansion advisory committee. “We met with them in February, and at that time we said ‘If you’ve got a proposal, share it with us,’ but in the meantime, we’ve said we will move forward.”

Further, Tenold said, for every argument Metropolitan make for its site, there is a counter argument.

While having two centers would allow the city to host a pair of conventions, it’s unlikely any large group would want to split its meeting in two sites, he said. And if a private developer built a new hotel at the Summit site, Tenold said, the project would lose the crucial support of Spokane’s existing hotels.

“Now you’ve alienated the very industry you want to target and support,” he said.

But perhaps most importantly to SEACAB members, the feasibility study recommends the site to the south of the existing center.

But Paul Sandifur Jr., Metropolitan’s CEO, contends that study may have been biased.

“It’s pretty much like they had their answer before they started, or they started with the answer,” Sandifur said.

The study may have been influenced by the downtown businesses that would benefit from an expansion on the recommended site, Sandifur alleged.

“There is an element of self interest,” he said.

Mike Kobluk, who manages the convention center for the city, said, “I think that’s a ridiculous statement. It would be foolish for a group like Price Waterhouse to put their name on something just because the local hotel industry is expressing interest. To infer that something fishy is going on is truly unfair, in my opinion.”

Whatever the merit of Sandifur’s claims, some, such as Mayor John Talbott, said the city owes it to the taxpayers to at least look at other, less expensive options.

“Let’s be very, very savvy and let’s make sure this isn’t being driven by a lot of special interests,” Talbott said.

But with a convention center financing bill expected to be introduced to the state Legislature in January, the clock on Metropolitan’s plan is ticking.

“We haven’t thrown out Mr. Sandifur’s proposal, ” said Jeff Colliton, the City Council’s liaison to SEACAB. “But we’re still waiting for it.”