Tapio Expansion Site May Be Needed For Freeway

Thu., Feb. 25, 1999

By Mike Prager mikeprager15@gmail.com (509) 459-5454

Architect and developer Glen Cloninger wants to build an extension of the Tapio Office Center on the east side of Freya.

The state Department of Transportation has said the land could become part of an expanded Interstate 90 and north-south freeway system.

But the state won’t be moving ahead with freeway construction for two decades.

Cloninger said he can’t wait for that.

“Two years ago, they told me it would be about 20 years before this would happen,” he said.

“You can’t put the whole city on hold.”

Likewise, developer Judy Hart and Fred Meyer stores are seeking approval for a site on the south side of I-90 at Third and Thor for a 103,000-square-foot retail development.

Hart said she was told the same thing and has decided to go ahead with her development project with the help of Fred Meyer executives. The project is worth about $30 million.

Hart and Fred Meyer are expected to go before the city Plan Commission for an amendment to the comprehensive land-use plan for two of the four city blocks that would be part of the store site. No hearings have been scheduled.

Cloninger is going before the city hearing examiner for a zone change for his office site. The hearing is scheduled for 9 a.m. March 9 at Spokane City Hall.

Cloninger has bought five residential lots on the east side of Freya between Second and Pacific.

He wants to use the 32,500-square-foot site to erect a single office building across Freya from the campuslike Tapio center. It includes three lots on Second Avenue and two lots on Pacific Avenue.

The environmental impact statement for the North Spokane transportation corridor shows freeway structures covering about half of the Tapio site, Cloninger said.

The plan calls for building new on-off lanes adjacent to the existing I-90 freeway lanes and reserving the existing lanes for through traffic.

An interchange for the north-south freeway would be built in the vicinity of Freya and Thor.

Andrew Worlock, planner for the city, said the Department of Transportation did not object to Cloninger’s request for a zone change, but it advised the city the property is in the proposed freeway’s path.

“We are in harm’s way,” Cloninger said.

The East Central Neighborhood land-use plan appears to support an office along Freya, Worlock said, but the map accompanying the plan designates the property for residential use.

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