Hotel to replace downtown church

A church visible from a busy freeway off-ramp that some consider a gateway to Spokane has been sold to a couple who plan to build a Best Western Hotel.

St. John’s Lutheran Church, at the corner of Division Street and Third Avenue, has been purchased for $1.9 million by John and Rita Santillanes, owners of the Best Western Peppertree Inns near the Spokane International Airport and in Liberty Lake.

They will start working this fall with architects on designs for a seven- or eight-story hotel with parking and a swimming pool, said Rita Santillanes, adding that the location is ideal for the limited service Best Western.

“We believe in Spokane. We’ve only been here 12 years, but we’ve seen a lot of growth,” said Santillanes, who estimates the project will run about $9 million to $10 million.

The couple owns another hotel in Auburn and an Omak, Wash., hotel that is under construction.

St. John’s Lutheran Church was founded in 1900, when a small wooden house of worship was built on the site, according to The Spokesman-Review archives. That building was torn down and replaced with the current church in 1951. In 1972, the inside of the church was rebuilt after being gutted by a fire started by an arsonist, an article said.

The downtown property closed this week and includes nearly 37,000-square feet of land that encompasses the adjacent Subway, said Joel Crosby, a Realtor with Tomlinson Black South who handled the property transaction. The property doesn’t include the parking lot facing Second Avenue that hosts the local farmer’s market, he said.

The process of finding and securing a suitable downtown property took nearly a year, said Crosby, adding, “We made a run at some other properties but they turned out not to be available.”

He approached church representatives about buying the old building and found they were interested in moving forward with a new church outside of downtown. St. John’s has purchased eight acres in Latah Valley, near U.S. Highway 195 and Meadowlane Road, to build a new worship and ministry center, he said.

Santillanes said the church and Subway will remain there through Christmas. Demolition crews will work with representatives to save stained glass windows, pews, beams and other elements to incorporate into the new church.