Appreciate Hard-Won Development For The Asset It Is

As a developer and Realtor completely independent from the Cowles family, I would like to share some thoughts with you concerning the River Park Square development. The grand opening is Friday.

From day 1, there has been a constant barrage of negativism about this project.

Obstructionists have filed numerous lawsuits. Radio talk shows have cast aspersions at “The Cowles Gang.” We even have a mayor, John Talbott, who was elected on a platform questioning government’s role in the project.

The whole thing got so bizarre, it even made the front page of The Wall Street Journal!

Lets look at these objections, one by one.

First, development in any downtown is very difficult and very expensive. This is because everywhere you turn, you are faced with old buildings and old infrastructure. Also, the bedroom communities are moving farther and farther from downtown, which makes it more difficult to get people to come back to shop.

Criticism that revolves around utilization of the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development program is irrational. This is a federal program specifically designed to compensate for the difficulties in redevelopment of cities’ cores. This HUD program was created years ago by Congress. It is not a local program that was conceived for the Cowles family.

Then there is the objection about using the HUD grant program. Can anyone name even one HUD grant in the past 10 years that has had a significant impact on our city? River Park Square is going to have a huge impact on our city.

For years, people have been trying to figure out how to create housing downtown. Some have talked about utilization of HUD programs. Are we going to subsidize housing downtown? Would you live downtown just because housing is subsidized? The key to downtown housing is demand. And there isn’t much. The formula to create demand for housing downtown is to create an atmosphere of vitality that blends with and complements an active lifestyle. If people want to live downtown, there will be demand. Quality retail shops, covered parking, a new Nordstrom store, theaters, restaurants - all of this is how you create demand for people who want to live downtown. The housing will follow.

Let’s look at the city’s participation and the great loss of revenue that many would have us believe we are going to suffer. We are talking about the city having to contribute part of its parking revenue, if other forms of repayment for the project’s loan fail. There are some very impressive sources of revenue ahead of the city’s revenue. The city’s is only a contingent liability. By comparison, consider what Boise has gone through to restore its downtown. Years ago, the Boise Development Agency aggregated eight city blocks and offered the property to developers for a token price, just to see development happen. Now, the Capital City Development Corp. collects taxes from a 60-square-block area in downtown Boise to cover bonds that fund improvements there. The project has attracted new offices and shoppers, parking and lodging facilities, and successful shops line the streets.

Did the Cowles project ask for any of this type of subsidy from the city of Spokane? Of course not. Boise has been willing to give an arm and a leg to get major redevelopment downtown. Compared to Boise, the contribution that Mayor Talbott is so worried about is chump change.

I respectfully suggest that those who share Talbott’s viewpoint should be much more concerned with the alternative scenario of more businesses leaving downtown, falling rents, rising vacancy rates, erosion of our tax base and a severe decline in the overall safety and vitality of our central business district.

Let’s look at what the Cowles family and their development team have accomplished.

They are completing the first phase of River Park Square. Phase I consists of 400,000 square feet; 137,000 of that space will be the new Nordstrom. The leasing to other stores is going very well, 90 percent completed.

There will be other store openings subsequent to the grand opening. Along with Nordstrom, some of the tenants already signed that we would recognize are AMC Theaters with 20 screens and 3,700 seats; Eddie Bauer; Talbots; Ann Taylor; Williams-Sonoma; The Gap; Kids Gap; Anderson & Emami; Restoration Hardware; Banana Republic; and Pottery Barn.

They have updated the existing parking garage and have added several hundred new parking stalls.

This is a quality development that we can all be excited about, that we can all be proud of.

Also, in an unrelated development, the Cowleses are rehabilitating two more city blocks downtown by moving KHQ to its new corporate headquarters on West First Avenue.

In the face of surprising and irrational adversity, the Cowleses have truly accomplished what will go down in history as downtown Spokane’s Development of the Century.

I sincerely hope that we can say as a community two things to the Cowleses:

1. Congratulations on a huge job well done.

2. Thank you. Thank you for helping save our downtown.