Editor’s note: Much of the reporting for this story, including a June 6 interview with Paul Mann, was conducted less than a week before Janet Mann, his wife of 53 years, died of injuries sustained in a vehicle-pedestrian collision in a downtown crosswalk. This writing was postponed until the Journal reconnected with Mann to ensure his comments and sentiments reflected here are current, particularly about his future at the Ridpath.

Following the sudden loss last month of his wife Janet Mann, who was instrumental in building community at the repurposed Ridpath Hotel, Paul Mann says he’s there to stay.

“I’m here,” he says. “This is my place.”

While Mann is part of the investment and development group that owns the first 11 floors of the Ridpath tower and four-story east annex now collectively named the Ridpath Club Apartments, he and his late wife bought the largest of three luxury condominium spaces on the 13th floor for themselves in 2012.

“What I said to my wife was, ‘We’ll buy this place, and create an apartment in it, and when we’re ready to move downtown, we can do that,’ and she said, ‘We’re ready.’”

However, it took a number of years to construct the living space that was a portion of the former Ankeny's restaurant.

“It took a long time to get it done, but you don’t want to move to the top floor of a building that’s unoccupied,” Mann says.

Meantime, as earlier reported in the Journal, the hotel rooms in the first 11 floors of the Ridpath tower annex knowns as the “Y” building were redeveloped into 206 apartment units in a $22 million project led by late prominent Spokane developer and historic building preservationist Ron Wells.

The iconic Ridpath Hotel, at 515 W. Sprague, in the heart of downtown, had closed in 2008 and remained vacant for over a decade as its fragmented ownership was consolidated for redevelopment purposes by Wells and other investors, including Mann.

The couple moved into the top floor in 2019, as the Ridpath Club Apartments below them were being leased.

Mann says 184 of the units are designated for people at or below 60% of the median area income. They typically rent for $1,000 to $1,100 per month and include all utilities and Wi-Fi.

There’s no differentiation between those units and the 22-market rate units, which cost about an additional $100 per month, Mann says.

Studio apartments typically have about 220 square feet of living space, and one-bedroom apartments have about 500 square feet of space. Steel beams used in the building construction make it unfeasible to tear down some walls to make bigger units, Mann says.

“When we first opened, we had an influx of seniors right away,” Mann says. “But we've got all age groups, and we have some people who have special needs. It’s just like a big-city neighborhood all compressed into one block.”

Mann says the average vacancy rate is about 3%. “There have been times when we were 99.5% occupied,” he says.

As the Manns prepared to move into the Ridpath from their Cliff Park home of 32 years on the South Hill, someone questioned whether they would be comfortable living in a complex that’s mostly affordable housing.

“My wife said, ‘Those are my people,’” he says. “We’ve certainly had some experience with people in different circumstances than us.”

Among many charitable works, Janet had been a volunteer coordinator at Vanessa Behan, and when Paul retired from the investment advisory business in 1994, the couple founded the Children’s Ark nonprofit and lived for a time with underprivileged women and babies who they provided services for.

Mann is currently the managing member of Ridpath Club Apartments LLC. Others in the ownership group are Mark Mackin and Lawrence Brown, both of Spokane, and New York-based tax credit partners, he says.

“Some of the funding was from affordable housing tax credits and historic preservation tax credits,” he explained.

Wells had tarnished his reputation with his involvement in a criminal insurance scam for which he was sentenced in federal court in 2020 to a year of home confinement, fines, and restitution. He was removed from ownership and control interests in the Ridpath Club Apartments as his legal troubles began to emerge. He died in February, and as of June, his remaining interests in portions of the 12th and 13th floors were tied up in bankruptcy and probate proceedings, Mann says.

Mann no longer has an ownership interest in the 12th floor, where he says seven apartment units with higher-end finishes, owned by Mackin, are complete and being prepared to rent.

Mann says he’s proud of the Ridpath redevelopment.

“We’re the largest affordable housing site in the downtown core,” he asserts. “Having this community here has made this area more vibrant.”

He says his wife was all about building community within the building.

“We’ve shown that has happened,” he says. “Janet was someone who saw value in everyone. Our tenants recognize that.”