The Dirt: Shipping company plans substantial remodel project

Officials at Shipping company R+L Carriers are planning to remodel their logistics facility, which is the subject of an upcoming preapplication meeting with Spokane city planners.

The effort would cost about $6 million.

Based in Wilmington, Ohio, R+L is a freight-shipping company that specializes in transporting cargo by land, sea or air.

R+L has owned the facility, at 3901 E. Broadway Ave., since 2010, according to Spokane County records. But in the plans submitted to the city, the company plans a substantial makeover to the roughly 66,000-square-foot building.

City documents listed Aaron MacDonald, of Arlington, Washington-based Red Oak Architecture, as the point of contact for the project. MacDonald said neither he, nor officials at R+L, would discuss the project as it is still early in the planning process.

Documents submitted to the city show the company hopes to rework the entire building, including replacing its roofing, siding, updating its structural infrastructure, replacing its lighting and power systems and restoring its security cameras.

The property also includes remodeling about 10,000 square feet of office space. There are no plans to change the maintenance shop.

The office work includes the replacement of it ceilings, structural studs, insulation and walls.

Also, the building’s heating, ventilation and air condition system will be gutted and revamped. Plans also include adding a three-stop elevator and lobby along with replacing its doors and guard rails.

The submittal also includes an alternative option, which would forgo the office remodel and instead replace it with a new, 4,500-square-foot facility.

Residential project

Three separate, single-family lots in east-central Spokane are the potential sites for projects that would add higher density to an existing residential neighborhood.

Earlier this year, the city of Spokane’s new ordinance, Building Opportunities and Choices for All initiative, that allows up to six units to be built on a typical residential lot went into effect.

Though many builders have begun developing multiunit projects, there has been less activity for another city ordinance that took effect this year: the Unit Lot Subdivisions ordinance. That provision allows developers to take small lots, 2 acres in size or less, and create even smaller single-family lots.

“We’re one of the only companies at this point in time doing what we’re doing,” said Guy Boudreaux, founder of Space Elevator Homes, a company specializing in the project.

Boudreaux has submitted plans to the city as part of a planning meeting ahead official permit process. If approved, he will divide a 0.16-acre property on East Boone Avenue into three lots.

On a separate property on East Cataldo Avenue, he plans to divide a 0.33-acre lot into nine lots.

At a third site, he plans to work to two adjacent lots on East Sharpe Avenue. Both of those 0.16-acre lots would be split, with one into five and the other into six lots.

“These are cost effective, nice homes for Generation Z, Millennials or maybe people in their golden years – whoever doesn’t want to pay the crazy prices for a home,” Boudreaux said.

If the projects go according to plan, homes would be built with the intent to sell them, according to Boudreaux.

He said homes would vary, but be around 700 square feet and cost around $235,000.

His company works with the Reclaim Project, a local nonprofit that works to get recovering alcohol and drug users into trade work, to build much of the home at their Spokane Valley facility.

Boudreaux has an agreement with each owner of the properties he plans to develop, that he will purchase the land if the city allows the projects. If the city gives the “OK,” he anticipates quick progress.

“I would say once I have permits, I could have a house up in less than 3½ months,” he said. “Then once we get rolling, we plan to buy up as many of these lots as we can.”

Downtown Apple remodel

The Apple store in River Park Square in downtown Spokane could get an update, according to plans submitted to the city.

An estimated $1.2 million project would remodel the roughly 7,000-square-foot downtown location.

Work is planned to include some demolition work, refinishing, replacement of furniture and related HVAC and electrical work.