Pennington Can’T Be Saved Developer Says Old Hotel Is A Liability To Davenport Project

The Pennington Hotel, adjacent to Spokane’s landmark Davenport Hotel, will be demolished next year. But the Pennington’s most famous room, the Hall of Doges, will be preserved, Davenport co-owner Walt Worthy said Wednesday.

He said the hall will be incorporated in a new building designed to mimic The Davenport’s brick and stone exterior. The plan retains the Pennington’s signature clock towers.

Worthy has wrestled with the Pennington’s future since he and his wife, Karen, purchased The Davenport in May.

The century-old structure had deteriorated badly. Some rooms had become pigeon coops.

Worthy said he hoped to preserve the building, but not if the effort jeopardized the economic viability of the entire renovation project.

“I’m just as sorry to see it leave as anybody would be,” he said.

Worthy added that the Pennington’s destruction probably means sacrificing up to $3million in tax credits for which The Davenport project would have qualified if the building was salvageable.

Although a decision on the credits will not be made until he submits his plans to The National Park Service early next year, Worthy said, his chances to get the credits are only about 10 percent.

“I’m going to do what’s best for the hotel,” Worthy said.

The new building will cover 15,000 square feet.

Most of the ground floor will consist of a covered entryway, preferably with access off a two-way stretch of Post Street, Worthy said.

There will also be a loading dock.

The Hall of Doges, jacked up and moved to the northeast corner of the second floor, would be the entryway to a new ballroom with adjacent kitchens and service areas.

Worthy said he will keep and reuse all the materials he can from the Pennington.

He said some public areas of The Davenport could be open as early as next summer. Guest rooms may be available by winter.

On Wednesday, 40 workers were using everything from brushes to Bobcats to continue transforming what is perhaps Spokane’s most famous building.

Gild covered by years of grime was surfacing in the lobby. Beams and ceilings in the Isabella ballroom were shedding layers of white paint and showing more subtle, stone-like colors.

“I don’t think the room has ever looked this good,” Worthy said.

Upstairs, workers are clearing old floors at the rate of one every two weeks. It took two months to do the 14th floor, the first worked on, he said.

Creating new rooms should take less time, Worthy said.

He said research indicates the work in the public areas, when completed, will restore much of the look The Davenport had at its 1915 opening.

“Virtually no one alive in Spokane has ever seen it like this,” he said.