A proposed new student-residence building is the best use for the old Jensen-Byrd warehouse building site in Spokane's University District, and the 102-year-old structure there should be torn down to accommodate the estimated $25 million project.
Campus Advantage, an Austin, Texas-based student housing developer, agreed to buy the former Jensen-Byrd complex and 1.5-acre site from Washington State University last December. The company wants to demolish the old warehouse and build in its place a structure that preliminary plans say will be five stories tall and have a total of 128 living units that would house 426 students. The company had a design-review workshop and a predevelopment conference with the city of Spokane in late January. Once city departments sign off on the project, it should be allowed to move forward unfettered.
For historic preservation advocates who said "never again" when they watched the Rookery Block and the Mohawk Building be torn down in the city's core and replaced with a parking lot seven years ago, this is a truth that's hard to accept.
However, years of deliberation already have gone into this decision. Two separate consultants looked at ways to repurpose the building so that WSU could either house students or academic endeavors there. The studies came to the same conclusion: Rehabilitating the building, which was constructed to house hardware, and bringing it up to modern building code would carry enormous costs, and the building isn't viable as anything other than a warehouse.
In addition, WSU had two deals in place previously with buyers who had planned to renovate the old structure. Neither developer had a specific plan for the building; both called for developing bare land nearby first and getting to the Jensen-Byrd building later. Neither project ever got off the ground.
Historic preservation advocates point out that WSU had another option that could have salvaged the old Jensen-Byrd building. Spokane developer Ron Wells submitted a proposal to buy the building last fall and had a plan for the building that would have spared it from demolition and created 94 living units. Anybody who is familiar with Wells' track record knows that this was an offer the university should take seriously.
WSU contends it did weigh the two offers carefully. From Campus Advantage, the school had a cash offer with earnest money and a definitive closing date. With Wells, the school has an offer with a promissory note for a down payment and a minimum of 270 days until closing. Wells says his deal was structured in a specific way consistent with the procedure for receiving U.S. Housing and Urban Development financing for such projects, which explains the need for more time.
WSU chose cash on the table and a definitive timeline, a reasonable decision in light of evidence against rehabilitation and two stalled attempts to get a project off the ground.
Historic preservation is essential to ensuring that Spokane's rich architectural and construction legacy remains intact, and financial incentives currently in place are commendable ways to promote private investment in such endeavors. Furthermore, conversations such as those that have swirled around the Jensen-Byrd property in recent weeks are good for raising the profile of and emphasizing the importance of preservation.
But historic preservation must be driven by the property owner and won't be a successful long-term strategy for preserving Spokane's character if an us-versus-them atmosphere becomes pervasive.
If protests and emotionally-penned resolutions are successful in shutting down the planned project, the old Jensen-Byrd warehouse is likely to always be what it is right now: an empty warehouse building in the middle of one of Spokane's most vibrant districts. The Campus Advantage project should be allowed to go forward so that doesn't occur.
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