The Dirt: Infamous apartment building gets new life

A downtown apartment building may soon receive big upgrades.

Located at 225 S. Wall St., the 36-unit Wall Street Apartments has remained vacant since September 2023 when city officials emptied the building of inhabitants and boarded up its windows and doors.

Code enforcement staff claimed its owner, who was escorted out of the meeting due to repeated disruptions, neglected to address code violations to the building, which prompted them to determine that the building was not fit for occupancy.

Since then, First Interstate Bank foreclosed on the vacated building then sold it for $535,000 to Jonathan McKay, a tech executive based in San Francisco, according to Spokane County property records.

Currently the head of growth at Microsoft’s artificial intelligence division, CoreAI, McKay is also the founder of M5x2 Capital, a real estate investment firm behind the renovation of the troubled Spokane apartment building.

Plans show M5x2 will rename the building to the Oxford.

The firm, not publicly known to have a headquarters, has completed projects across Montana and Washington, most recently in the Tri-Cities, according to its website.

The firm is registered under the Spokane home address of McKay’s father, Mark McKay.

According to a remodel permit application submitted to the city of Spokane, renovating the building will cost about $1.2 million.

No changes will be made to the layout of the units, plans show.

According to the permit application, the only changes will be made to the first floor along with changes required by code enforcement personnel. These alterations include the implementation of fire retardant doors, fixing damaged structural joists, roof remediation and the replacement of hazardous electrical wiring, according to city records.

No general contractor has yet been named, but Spokane-based HDG Architecture designed the project and submitted the application permit on behalf of McKay.

Project Manager Matthew Chown could not be immediately reached last week for comment.

Event venue has

unlikely origin

When Lam Le and his family laid down turf in the back of their furniture store, they would have never anticipated building one of Spokane’s most impressive event venues.

The family owns Madison Home Market, a local furniture store with multiple locations in north Spokane, including one at 2826 N. Ruby St. and one that has now permanently closed at 2976 E. North Foothills Drive.

The closed location features a sizable backyard that remained largely unused until the coronavirus pandemic.

Three of Lam Le’s children play competitive soccer, including one who plays professionally overseas. Another child is gearing up to play abroad and the third competes at a soccer academy, he said.

With no one but themselves to train with, the Le family decided the lockdown would be better spent playing on the roughly 0.12 acres of turf they laid in the back of the store.

Slowly the space was made more homey with upgrades until an inspiring touch – a large pergola structure. Thus, an idea was born.

“We decided upon my mother’s retirement we would just transition the whole space into a venue,” Le said. “We have a big extended family and thought if anything we would have a great space for personal gatherings as well.”

Le named the event space the Pergola and has held some events at the furniture store before it closed. Now that the space is empty, he hopes to turn it into an event venue capable of hosting elegant outdoor weddings and large-scale corporate events.

“With our design background, we thought this was a fun project to take over and build,” Le said. “Right now we’re still currently working with the city on the change of use from retail to venue – it’s been quite the process with the city.”

Le estimated that the remodel will cost roughly $125,000.

The company still operates the Madison Home Fine Furnishings & Design at 2826 N. Ruby St.

No contractor has been named yet, but Fusion Architecture, based in Spokane, designed the project.

Three-story

buildings planned near Kendall Yards

A proposed housing development may soon bring new residents into the heart of the Kendall Yards Neighborhood near the Spokane River.

Located at 2114 W. Falls Ave., the 0.29-acre property is southeast of Olmsted Brothers Green and Hello Sugar, located at 419 N. Nettelton St.

A construction permit application has been submitted to the city of Spokane for two, three-story buildings totaling 12 units of housing, according to city records.

Each building will have a footprint of roughly 1,900 square feet. One building, accessed by West Ohio Avenue to the north, will feature six units of housing. The southernmost structure, accessed via West Falls Avenue, will also have six units.

The estimated cost of the project is $4 million, plans show.

The property was recently purchased for $399,000 by Tamala and David Tucker, according to Spokane County property records.

David Tucker is the founder of DT Construction, a Spokane-based firm specializing in drywall installation, taping and finishing services, according to its website.

Evan Verduin, principal and owner of Spokane-based Trek Architecture, submitted plans for the project. Verduin said the owners chose to not comment on the project until funding is in place and the overall feasibility is confirmed.