Wal-Mart may be considering Summit

The president of a company that had sought to develop Spokane River property owned by Metropolitan Mortgage & Securities said Wal-Mart is exploring building a store on the site.

Officials from the city and Wal-Mart categorically deny it.

However, Kevin Daniels, president of Nitze-Stagen & Co., of Seattle, said in an e-mail and an interview that the world’s largest retailer is looking into building a store on the 77-acre Summit property, just north of downtown Spokane, overlooking the river.

“We are aware that Wal-Mart has been looking at a portion of the property and would be interested in placing a store there,” Daniels wrote. “It should be up to the community to decide if that is something it wants, not me. That type of large retail use is not compatible with our ‘new urbanism’ vision so it would never be a part of our plans. That doesn’t mean it is not a viable alternative to our vision.”

After working with Metropolitan for almost a year, Nitze-Stagen announced in December a plan to build 1,500 housing units and 780,000 square feet of commercial and retail space. The property was proposed as an eclectic community that would mix lofts, high-end condominiums and apartment buildings in a neighborhood where people would live, work and play. The project had the support of West Central’s neighborhood association and of Mayor Jim West.

However, after Metropolitan’s bankruptcy filing, the plans were scuttled when Metropolitan could not make a $1.5 million payment needed for environmental cleanup of the former railroad site. Eventually, Nitze-Stagen joined the list of Metropolitan creditors, trying to recover money it had already invested in development plans.

As part of the bankruptcy, Metropolitan has begun the process of selling many of its properties. The Summit property is listed for sale at $12.5 million with the Seattle office of Colliers International. Colliers also is listing the company’s 17-story Metropolitan Financial Center and property in Hawaii, said Senior Vice President Arvin Vander Veen.

Vander Veen said he has had no contact with anyone from Wal-Mart regarding the Summit property. He said Colliers mailed out 2,000 packages of information on the property and received back 50 confidentiality agreements from interested parties. All offers on the Summit property are due by 3 p.m. Aug. 25, Vander Veen said.

The sale will be an all-cash deal and the property will not be divided, he said. All offers will be evaluated based on price, terms, credibility of the buyer and likelihood of closure.

However, Colliers does not determine what the buyer eventually does with the property. That falls to the city of Spokane. Any property use would need to fall within the bounds of the planned-unit development approved for the property. Dave Mandyke, the city’s deputy director of public works, said while a Wal-Mart would fit on the site, representatives for the retailer deny they are looking at it.

“A Wal-Mart downtown is a bigger battle than I think they want,” Mandyke said.

Eric Berger, regional community affairs manager for Wal-Mart, said the company has no plans for the site.

Daniels said his conversations with city officials lead him to believe they would not be interested in approving a Wal-Mart on that site. “But I haven’t discussed it recently with any of those parties,” Daniels said in the e-mail.

Daniels said his firm remains interested in buying and developing the Summit property and has been waiting for the sale process to progress.

“Everyone else must catch up to us on their due diligence, so I assume that is the reason for what seems like a slow process,” he said.