Macy’s, Bon Marche inspire new name for downtown Spokane building under renovation

The former Macy’s building in downtown Spokane has a new name. After about 300 different names were submitted via a contest to name it, Centennial Properties said on Thursday the iconic building would now be called “The M.”

“The M is simple, but acknowledges the past Bon Marche and Macy’s, as well as the building’s location on Main Street,” Betsy Cowles, Chairman of the Cowles Company, told a group of city leaders Thursday at a Rotary Club meeting held at the Spokane Club. “The M brings all of that together.”

Centennial is a subsidiary of the Cowles Co., which also owns The Spokesman-Review.

The M will be a mixed-use building with retail on the first two floors, but with most of the space being used as apartments.

Cowles said more than 2,000 tons of material has been removed from the building during the renovation, which is still in the demolition phase, with close to 90 people working on the project most days.

Cowles also told the group some of the apartment units could be as large as 2,000 square feet, but most would be smaller, similar to what the company had announced in its conversion of The Chronicle building into apartments.

She said rent prices had not been set yet, but preliminary estimates had them ranging from $950 to $1,700 a month.