The approval this month of more than $100 million in funding for two important projects in the downtown Spokane area sets the stage nicely for some much-needed, short-term construction employment, not to mention the projects' substantial long-term benefits.
Voters showed surprisingly strong support for Measure 1, a $65 million proposal to expand the Spokane Convention Center, improve an adjacent heavily used stretch of the Centennial Trail, and add more seats to the Spokane Veterans Memorial Arena.
Civic leaders also were relieved when the Washington state Legislature approved $37.5 million in capital funding to finish construction of Washington State University Spokane's Biomedical and Health Sciences Building on the Riverpoint Campus.
Those two projects alone, once they get under way, will keep the healthy clatter of construction activity humming downtown for many months, hopefully foreshadowing an upswing in other types of large-scale projects here as the economy continues to heal.
Some criticism we heard in regard to the Measure 1 campaign took issue with the “Staying Competitive. Creating jobs.” slogan used to support it, suggesting it was blatant pandering and meant to steer voters away from close scrutiny of the scope, cost, and justification for the projects.
We disagree. The fact is, jobs will be a huge benefit of voters' largesse.
The Spokane Public Facilities District estimates the projects will sustain around 400 construction jobs, with the projects expected to be completed over 18 months to 24 months, and will generate about 800 new long-term jobs.
Facilities District CEO Kevin Twohig says he'd like to see construction get under way early next year, after the necessary financing has been arranged and design work has been completed.
As the Journal reported earlier, Measure 1 authorized extending for 10 additional years, from 2033 to 2043, a 0.1 percent sales tax and 2 percent hotel-motel tax that voters approved a decade ago. Bond sale proceeds resulting from approval of the latest ballot measure will be used to add 91,000 square feet of space to the north side of the convention center's boat-shaped exhibit hall. It also will pay for the addition of 750 seats at one end of the upper seating tier of the arena, plus restore some Spokane River shoreline and provide better access to the river and Centennial Trail.
At the Riverpoint Campus, a buzz of construction activity already is building, with workers wrapping up the installation of the footings and foundation for the 110,000-square-foot WSU biomedical building and getting set to begin erecting structural steel. They'll be erecting the frame of the building over the next 2 1/2 months, topping out around the Fourth of July.
The state Legislature last year approved $35 million for the first half of the building's funding, covering erection of the core and shell. Its recent approval of the funding needed to finish the building means “it's full speed ahead,” says Bob Askins, a vice president at Graham Construction & Management Inc., the general contractor and construction manager on the project.
The project now is scheduled to be completed in fall 2013, and Askins says the construction workforce at the site just east of downtown probably will peak between 150 and 180.
The potential long-term health care industry benefits of that building and the programs it will support have been well documented. What's also great to see, though, amid continuing high unemployment, is the jobs the project is creating right now.
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