Sign-fueled speculation unfounded, developer says

A few astute readers have e-mailed about a large sign that recently appeared on the site of planned mixed-use development Kendall Yards off Monroe Street near downtown Spokane. They wonder whether the sign - which advertises “development opportunities” including build-to-suit, sale and land-lease for retail, commercial, residential and office uses – portends a change in the master-planned strategy for the development (check out a picture of the sign at MetroSpokane ).

Developer Marshall Chesrown says no.

“All we’re doing is soliciting interest in the site,” Chesrown said. “We just put it up because we’ve had just a plethora of interest and people have trouble tracking us down, so we thought it would be better to put up a sign.”

While “obviously the national market has changed,” Chesrown said, “There is still plenty of appetite out there.”

“Everything is on schedule as far as we know,” he said.

The next step for the development will be installing infrastructure and construction of Kendall Yards Boulevard and its intersection with Monroe Street, he said. Black Rock hopes to have those done “before the snow flies,” he said.

And with snow likely a few months away, another type of flying matter has been a problem for the site of late: dust. Both the city’s Public Works Department and the Spokane Regional Clean Air Agency received at least one complaint about blowing dust during the wind storm last week that fueled the Valleyview fire in Spokane Valley.

“We got one complaint on the 10th about Kendall Yards,” said Bill Dameworth, agency director. “It was dust blowing across Monroe Street. It was basically related to the intensity of the wind.”

Agency and state regulations require “reasonable precautions” to prevent dust from affecting others, he said. But if “wind is coming along at 50 mph, there isn’t really much we can expect people to do about that.”

Chesrown said he wasn’t aware of any dust issues, and the company would take care of any that arise.