The Spokane Area Chamber of Commerce, which bought the former West One Plaza building downtown and is converting it into a Spokane Regional Business Center, now is seeking $1.7 million in donations to build a high-tech marketing and conference center on the structures first floor.


The Spokane Regional Business Center, or SRBC, is the result of a long-discussed plan by the chamber, the Spokane Area Convention & Visitors Bureau, and the Spokane Area Economic Development Council to co-locate under one roof.


The chamber bought the five-story office building last year for $3.4 million and already has renovated its third and fourth floors. The three organizations, as well as their seven affiliates, moved into the center about the first of the year and occupy those two floors as well as a portion of the buildings second floor. Business tenants currently are leasing the remainder of the second floor and the entire fifth floor.


The SRBCs main floor, however, remains vacant, gutted, and ready for redevelopment. It is there that the chamber plans to build a technology-intensive regional marketing and conference center that the three organizations would use as a public resource and promotional area for business development here. Also, an outdoor area just to the west of the building that formerly was used for drive-through banking would become a landscaped courtyard that could be used for fair-weather receptions and as a showcase for the building.


We want to build the most dynamic marketing center that any community could have, says chamber President Rich Hadley, who adds that chamber officials have looked at similar centers elsewhere in the country and are convinced Spokanes would be unique. I really dont think that anyone else is doing what were doing the way were doing it.


The project is expected to get under way in mid-April and be completed by early September, but that schedule depends on the success of the chambers fund-raising efforts. Hadley says chamber volunteers and staffers began early this month calling on about 40 top potential donors the organization hopes will pledge enough money to give the chamber the confidence it needs by early April to start work on the project. In its private solicitations, the chamber is using a laptop computer-based multimedia presentation that illustrates the projects goals and takes the potential donor through an electronic virtual tour of the planned marketing and conference center.


In April, the chamber plans to launch a formal fund-raising campaign to raise the rest of the money needed for the project. Hadley says the chamber hopes to have all of the $1.7 million raised by mid-summer, or at least by Labor Day, in time for the centers grand opening.


Washington Water Power Co. Chairman and CEO Paul Redmond has been named chairman of the campaign, Hadley says.Technology richThe projects $1.7 million price tag breaks down like this:


About $1 million will be spent on technology, equipment, and related infrastructure. Conceptual plans call for the center to have an array of video monitors, touch-screen kiosks, Internet-connected computers, audio-visual components, digital equipment for interactive exhibits, and teleconferencing equipment.


The estimated technology cost also includes non-hardware expenses, such as for the creation of electronic presentations that visitors will see when using the high-tech gear, and for computer programming necessary to prepare the center for easy public use. The chamber hopes that staffing of the first-floor center will be minimal, and that much of the information available there can be accessed on a self-service basis.


About $400,000 will be spent on construction, furnishings, art, and architectural fees, including construction of the planned courtyard area. Currently, plans call for the main-floor center to have an open architecture, with the exception of an enclosed conference room that would accommodate about 140 people, and two restrooms. Conceptual plans for the courtyard, meanwhile, include a water feature, as well as trees and shrubs. Hadley says that with both the conference center and the courtyard, the SRBC will be able to host large receptions or other gatherings, such as for a foreign dignitary.


About $300,000 will be spent on non-electronic displays and signs, including the SRBCs own logo and identity materials and some of the printed promotional materials that will be available to the public in the center. That money also will be used to pay for the centers connection to the Internet.


Displays, both electronic and static, will be a big part of the center. Just inside the centers Riverside Avenue entrance, visitors will be amidst a collection of display cubes and cases, as well as electronic kiosks all providing information about the Spokane area. The displays will be organized in four main areas: community and quality of life, commerce and industry, education and training, and infrastructure and support.


Nearby, an area will be set aside for research, where visitors will have access to facts about the Spokane area and will be able to sit down at a computer and do Internet searches for further information. A gallery also will be established near the buildings Post Street windows with the intent of giving visitors and passersby a snapshot of the community. Its contents will change frequently to reflect community events, such as Bloomsday.