Grant to help purchase buildings

A nonprofit organization that promotes historic preservation has put some of its own money behind an effort to save the Rookery and Mohawk buildings downtown, but it’s only a drop in the bucket.

Renaissance Community Fund LLC, based in Los Angeles, is seeking to purchase the two buildings and adjacent property for a $25 million to $30 million housing and mixed-use development.

The Spokane Preservation Advocates group announced this week it has awarded a $5,000 grant to Renaissance to assist the purchase and rehabilitation of the two historic buildings along Howard Street and Riverside Avenue in downtown Spokane.

The developer last fall paid a nonrefundable “good faith” deposit to owner Wendell Reugh to halt demolition of the two buildings while the company works out details of the development. SPA hopes the grant will serve to demonstrate community support for the effort by Renaissance to rehabilitate the historic block.

Charles Loveman, a partner in Renaissance, said the money from SPA was used to offset the cost of the deposit. He did not disclose the amount of the deposit.

In 2000, the SPA contributed $2,500 to help save the Fox Theater and restore it as the main venue for the Spokane Symphony. The contribution helped start an ongoing community effort to restore the Fox.

The 1934 Rookery Building and the 1915 Mohawk Building had been slated for demolition last year until the California firm stepped in with its deposit.

The 1890 Merton Building at the northeast corner of Sprague and Howard was torn down in early November about the same time the initial deal provided a reprieve to the Rookery and Mohawk. Reugh reportedly has been seeking $4.5 million for the buildings and land.

Renaissance faces a deadline later this month to accomplish a deal with Reugh. City officials have said that negotiations have stumbled over an effort by the California business to use the existing property as security on a renovation loan while at the same time making payments to Reugh on a sales contract.

Council President Dennis Hession, who met with the developers last week, said Reugh has been unwilling to take a second position to a bank in the overall financing of the project. Positioning determines the order in which parties to any financial deal are compensated if a project flops.

“It makes it a challenge to work out the financing,” Hession said.

The developers are seeking an extension of the deadline, Hession said.

Loveman confirmed that Reugh has declined to take a second position, but “we have some strategies in how to deal with that.”

Renaissance has proposed renovating the Mohawk and Rookery buildings with a mix of commercial uses and downtown housing units. Vacant land along Sprague Avenue would be used to erect a complementary building for additional housing and retail space. In all, nearly 100 housing units and 20,000 square feet of retail space are envisioned, Loveman said, adding that the developers are still trying to line up lenders or investors.

He said the project could change the dynamics of downtown by making it an attractive place to live. Other West Coast cities have seen a boom in downtown housing, he said.

Reugh had originally planned to topple all three buildings, plus other smaller structures that were razed on the block last year, and replace them with a 19-story office tower. But he was unable to accomplish the project. Instead, he had planned to drop the buildings and use the land for a parking lot.

In the meantime, the Spokane City Council last year slapped a moratorium on demolitions of historic buildings without plans for replacement structures, but could not stop Reugh from exercising rights under a demolition permit he had previously obtained.

Now the council is considering a permanent ordinance to prevent such demolitions in the future. A decision on the proposal is expected in coming weeks.

Spokane Preservation Advocates is a 500-member nonprofit organization formed to encourage historic preservation and compatible new development throughout the county.

“I certainly appreciate their willingness to step forward with money,” Hession said.