Land Rover moves from downtown Spokane to Spokane Valley after vandalism incidents

A luxury car dealership in downtown Spokane has moved to Spokane Valley less than a month after a vandal caused $100,000 in damages to vehicles in the lot.

The relocation of Land Rover may cause a slip in Spokane’s sales tax revenues.

“What we’re seeing is a breakdown in the economic climate, particularly in the downtown area,” said Gavin Cooley, a former city chief financial officer who worked for five Spokane mayors and now is the director of strategic initiatives for the Spokane Business Association.

A month ago, police arrested 34-year-old Katie Simms for allegedly throwing rocks at cars on the Land Rover lot at 1310 W. Third Ave. It was the latest episode involving the dealership’s need for police help.

The Spokane Police Department responded 93 times in the last year to Land Rover in downtown – most of the time to report trespassing or a person bothering the dealership’s employees or customers, according to the police department. The dealership’s new location is 8412 E. Sprague Ave.

Car dealerships bring a lot of money to cities like Spokane in sales tax, Cooley said. And sales taxes are important to a city like Spokane as it faces a $13 million deficit halfway through its budget cycle.

Land Rover’s move from Spokane to the Valley is a warning sign, Cooley said, particularly because the dealership is only moving “a few miles down the road.”

“When those start to leave your jurisdiction, you’re in trouble. And we’re in quite a bit of trouble,” Cooley said.

Spokane Valley City Manager John Hohman said Land Rover reached out to the city about the move in the spring.

“We’re excited to have them here; they’re going to be a great addition to that part of the city,” Hohman said.

Land Rover employees said Tuesday they could not comment on the situation. Instead, they referred The Spokesman-Review to their public relations people in Fort Myers, Florida.

The move could have something to do with the experience people expect to have when they buy a car, Cooley said. The pristine white tiled floors, clean new cars inside a spacious building is not something that Third Avenue lends itself to, explained Cooley, who spearheaded an initiative to walk Spokane’s streets at 5 a.m. with city leaders and others to see how the city’s homeless live and spur change.

“This is a great example of our inability to address some of the criminality concerns downtown resulting in not just losing a business downtown, but losing it to a place outside the city entirely,” Spokane Councilman Michael Cathcart said.

Spokane has around 30% vacancy downtown, so it’s not just Land Rover that’s leaving, Cathcart said.

“We can’t afford to lose more of these types of businesses,” he said.

“It’s hard to know exactly why a business moves. We know the tariffs have an impact on people, and there are struggles in the city that we’re looking to address,” Spokane Councilman Zack Zappone said.

The data shows that crime in Spokane has been down over the past two years, he said.

“But the reality, and we hear this from the public, is that we need to do better, and that’s going to take regional collaboration.”

If Spokane could get more businesses to come set up shop downtown, the city would make more money in tax revenue and use that money to benefit residents, Cathcart said. But the move likely makes financial sense for Land Rover, since the new location may even be cheaper in the long run, especially if there’s less crime and vandalism there, Cathcart said.

At the same time, 27 businesses opened their doors in downtown Spokane, economic vitality specialist for the Downtown Spokane Partnership Kevin Campbell said. While Campbell said he doesn’t typically work closely with businesses on Third Avenue, he explained that different types of businesses benefit from different locations.

“There’s a difference in audience,” Campbell said. “Car dealerships are destination businesses that don’t necessarily benefit from foot traffic.”