Rookery owner still optimistic

The historic Rookery and Mohawk buildings in downtown Spokane won’t be torn down anytime soon despite the apparent collapse of a redevelopment plan, the manager for the property owner said Wednesday.

“We want to keep working on this thing. They had a good plan. It looks feasible to us and we just want to keep working on it to see if it can happen,” said Steve Gill, manager for property owner Wendell Reugh. “I think it would be remiss on our part if we didn’t at least try to explore different ways to put this thing together.”

On Monday, a partner in Los Angeles-based Renaissance Community Fund LLC said the deal had fallen through due to the city of Spokane’s unwillingness to grant certain financial concessions. City officials said some of the developer’s demands would not be allowed under state law.

Renaissance had proposed a $30 million project that would have included renovating both historic buildings for condominiums, with street-level retail and a parking garage.

Reugh has said he would tear down the buildings if he couldn’t find a buyer willing to pay $4.5 million for the property, which includes most of the block bounded by Riverside, Sprague, Howard and Stevens. Historic preservation advocates have held protest rallies and petition drives to save the buildings.

Renaissance partner Craig Stevens said he’d love to “do the deal” but doesn’t see how it can go forward at this point. He said he’s made his demands to the city and has been told they can’t be met.

“Wendell’s not going to lower his price and the city didn’t come up with any other alternatives,” Stevens said. “We’d still be interested in going forward, but only if we got what we wanted.”

Renaissance had asked the city for abatement of property taxes, waivers of permit fees and reimbursements of the city’s portion of project-generated sales and excise taxes. The company also wanted the city to lease for five years a parking garage that Renaissance would build.

Gill, however, said there may be alternatives to the developer’s demands that haven’t been considered. He declined to elaborate.

“It will be a good test for us to get this thing back on track,” Gill said. “I’m always optimistic. I think there’s a chance.”