Pullman plan reaches for the sky; Moscow project also in works

A total of 82-apartments, a two-story parking garage with 112 spaces and 10,000 square feet of main-floor commercial space are proposed for what could become Pullman’s tallest downtown building.

The five-story structure would be 60 feet tall, the greatest height allowed by the city’s building regulations for downtown, said Pullman Planning Director Pete Dickinson.

The structure Pullman city officials are considering at 425 E. Main St. is one of two that California developer Eran Fields is pursuing on the Palouse. The other will be in Moscow near the entrance to the University of Idaho at U.S. Highway 95 and Sweet Avenue, and also features a mix of residential and commercial space.

In Pullman, height isn’t the only unique aspect of the project. A 10,000-square-foot, one-and-a-half story, 1970s-era branch of Washington Federal Bank is already on the lot where the 200,000-square-foot building would go.

That business would relocate temporarily a couple blocks away to 236 E. Main St. during construction so the building can be demolished. The bank will occupy about 2,000 square feet of the commercial space in the new building, said Washington Federal branch Manager Alan Hodges.

Customers using online banking, automated teller machines and smartphones have diminished the footprint that banks require, Hodges said. “We don’t have the need for lobby traffic we did years ago.”

It’s not just Washington Federal that will benefit, Hodges said, as the number of people frequenting downtown businesses should rise.

The apartments will likely attract a mix of Washington State University students and professionals just arriving in Pullman for jobs at WSU and Schweitzer Engineering Laboratory, Hodges said. “We wanted to be sure we were involved in the rejuvenation of downtown.”

The Fields development is expected to fill almost the entire lot and have the same number of stories as a hotel that preceded the bank, Hodges said.

The ground level would be comprised of 10,000 square feet of commercial space and 30,000 square feet of parking in an enclosed garage. The second story would be devoted almost entirely to another portion of the parking garage except for about five apartments, Dickinson said. The remaining levels would have apartments with two, three, four or five bedrooms.

Work may get underway this summer if it clears a site plan review and Fields obtains shoreline, floodplain and building permits, Dickinson said. The construction phase of the project is estimated to take 16 months.

Shoreline and floodplain permits are required because of the close proximity to the South Fork of the Palouse River.

Similar to what Fields is doing in Pullman, the Moscow project will be a mix of residences and businesses, which are expected to be ready for the UI’s fall semester in 2018, said Moscow Community Development Director Bill Belknap.

A main building with 72 apartments will also house a lease office along with common areas for exercising and studying, Belknap said. Adjacent to that building will be 3,000 square feet of commercial space for businesses that have not yet been identified.

Townhouses will go in three, four-story buildings with 20 units each, Belknap said. “(The) plan is to appeal to more than just students.”

Grading is anticipated to get underway soon as the Idaho Department of Environmental Quality finalizes what it will require for cleanup for a small section of the 6-acre site where a fuel distribution center used to be located, Belknap said.

The city’s urban renewal agency will contribute as much as $276,000 for that work, which is expected to cost significantly less, Belknap said.

It is also providing as much as $74,500 for a left-turn lane into the complex, which is also anticipated to cost that much because the road won’t need to be widened, Belknap said.

The project is eligible for the money because it’s within the Legacy Crossing Urban Renewal District and will serve a number of purposes such as increasing housing using existing utility lines instead of extending them, Belknap said. “It promotes development of an under-utilized brown field site.”