The construction of a planned $50 million, 19-story office tower in downtown Spokane has been delayed due to a lack of tenants and now probably wont start until at least next year, a project spokesman says.


The spokesman, Larry Soehren, vice president of Kiemle & Hagood Co., which will act as leasing agent and property manager for the building, says, The soonest you could see anything substantive, i.e. demolition (of buildings currently located on the envisioned construction site), would be the better part of a year from now.


It would take about that amount of time to complete remaining design work on the project once tenants have been secured, he says, adding, We need the equivalent of three to four floors of commitment.


The office towers anticipated anchor tenant, the Spokane law firm of Paine, Hamblen, Coffin, Brooke & Miller LLP, remains committed to the project, Soehren says. However, an unidentified second prospective lead tenant that Kiemle & Hagood has been talking with for months hasnt committed yet and became more wary about doing so after the financial markets softened last year, he says.


Soehren says he thinks the difficulty in securing tenants for the planned high-rise is due largely to the sluggish Spokane-area economy.


Were a long way from throwing in the towel by any stretch. Its just been a lot slower than we thought, he says.


Plans call for the office tower to have 232,000 square feet of office space atop a five-story parking garage and a main floor of retail shops and restaurants. The building would occupy most of the block bounded by Howard and Stevens streets and Riverside and Sprague avenues. A spire extending up from the buildings Riverside roof line is expected to make the building the highest structure in downtown Spokane.


Thompson Vaivoda Associates, of Portland, designed the building, and Hoffman Construction, of Spokane, will be the general contractor on the project. Madsen Mitchell Evenson & Conrad PLLC, also of Spokane, will oversee interior design work.