Here’s the dirt: Buyer plans housing revamp

More than 60 federally subsidized East Central neighborhood apartments for poor tenants would remain affordable housing and be revamped under plans by a Seattle-based company that intends to buy the property.

Allied Pacific Development wants to spend more than $1 million re-siding, replacing appliances in and making other upgrades to the 63-unit Parkview Apartments, 1413 E. Seventh Ave., said Greg Dunfield, vice president. The company has asked the Washington state Housing Finance Commission for about $3.33 million in privately issued tax-exempt bonds, and it would use federal tax credits toward a total estimated project cost of $4.68 million, according to the commission. The transaction has not closed.

“It’s really a preservation project for us,” Dunfield said.

Allied submitted a winning bid for the complex, which the nonprofit Northeast Washington Housing Solutions and Spokane Housing Ventures also had offered to purchase, said Robert Di Pietrae, an associate partner with Hendricks & Partners Inc. The 15-building complex was on the market for $3 million.

The units receive project-based Section 8 federal vouchers, which pay the private landlord the difference between a unit’s rent and 30 percent of the renting household’s income. Allied Pacific will request an extension of the subsidy, Dunfield said.

Keeping the units subsidized is “extremely valuable” to the community because Section 8 is a “dying program,” he said. The owner of the complex, Security Properties, also of Seattle, developed the apartments in 1979 through a U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development loan program, Di Pietrae said.

The apartments, near Grant Elementary School, are two-, three- and four-bedroom units. They primarily serve families, Dunfield said.

The complex would be owned by Parkview Partners LP.

North Spokane retail planned

Spokane-based Brumback Consulting Inc. plans to develop a former Tidyman’s location at Five Mile into two retail buildings and an expansion of a nearby storage facility.

Called Cedar Crossing at 5-Mile, the retail development on North Cedar Road will include two 15,400-square-foot buildings and cost an estimated $3 million, said Nick Brumback.

The nearby North Cedar Drive-In Storage, 6320 N. Cedar St., will be expanded by 40,000 square feet over two levels – an estimated $1.5 million project.

Brumback said the developer hopes to attract a bank, local restaurants and a “good range” of retailers to Cedar Crossing. It wants to complete the storage by fall, and some retail space by year’s end. It plans to serve a 114-unit luxury apartment complex across the street, which Brumback expects to be occupied this spring.

The original 64,000-square-foot storage facility, built in 2002, has stayed at “very low vacancy,” Brumback said.

“There’s huge demand for more mini-storage space in the area, and this is the only property left to do it,” he said.

Worthy office building permitted

Spokane developer Walt Worthy received building permits for a new, five-story office building and parking garage under way in Spokane Valley, but there is a roughly $22 million difference in project costs as estimated by the city and the developer.

The foundations and shells of the roughly 250,000-square-foot building and garage, 16201 E. Indiana Ave., will cost an estimated $32.6 million, according to Spokane Valley. It bases its projections on information from the International Code Council that involves the planned use, construction type and square footage of projects, said city spokeswoman Carolbelle Branch.

Worthy Enterprises LLC submitted an estimated cost of just $10.43 million; the city uses the larger estimate to calculate fees, Branch said. The developer isn’t challenging the valuation, however, because it wants to keep the project moving forward, said Jack Marr, Worthy Enterprises director of leasing.

Worthy Enterprises bought the property overlooking the Spokane River on Feb. 5 for about $2.2 million, according to a sales deed.