A five-story U-Haul self-storage structure is envisioned on an empty lot at the southwest corner of Third Avenue and Division Street, a heavily traveled intersection that serves as a primary gateway to Spokane and has become a focal point for the city's homelessness and drug-abuse conversations.

Lora Lakov, a planner at Amerco Real Estate Co.—the real estate and development arm of Phoenix-based U-Haul Holding Co.—declines to comment on the project, except to say it's too early to provide additional details.

Should plans move forward, the storage facility would be built across two parcels at 3 W. Third and 21 W. Third, the latter of which is already the site of U-Haul’s Midtown Moving & Storage location, which offers moving truck and trailer rentals, moving supplies, propane, and self-storage.

The project is valued at nearly $13 million, a predevelopment conference application shows.

The self-storage facility will have a building footprint of roughly 23,000 square feet, with a total of 116,000 square feet spread across the five stories, preliminary site plans show. The plans don't show the number of storage units the facility would hold.

According to one nearby property owner, the development of such a facility would be a welcome sight in an area that has been at the center of conversations regarding homelessness, crime, and public safety in downtown Spokane.

“Hopefully, it’ll help clean up the area,” says Rita Santillanes, co-owner of Peppertree Hospitality Group, which owns the multitenant retail center at the northwest corner of Third and Division through affiliated company Downtown Peppertree LLC.

Earlier this year, the city of Spokane announced plans to clean up litter and graffiti in the area and connect people experiencing homelessness to available resources. 

In March, the city reached an agreement with the Washington state Department of Transportation and Washington state Department of Commerce to designate the Division Street-Browne Street corridor from Sprague Avenue to Interstate 90 as a priority encampment zone under the state’s Right-of-Way Encampment Resolution Program.

The designation allows the city to use state funding to address the serial encampments in the corridor. At the time of the agreement, the city anticipated a $4 million appropriation of Right-of-Way Encampment Resolution Program funds on top of $2.5 million in unspent funds from a previous allocation.

The designation was in addition to a funding agreement between the city and WSDOT that created a reimbursement from the state for Spokane's gateway cleanup.

“Our gateways are the front porch of our city,” Mayor Lisa Brown said in a March press release. “This partnership will help us keep them clean, safe, and inviting.”

Brown also declared an emergency in June to implement an integrated response to address the opioid crisis in Spokane, primarily within the Second Avenue and Division Street area.

Despite the city’s efforts, Santillanes says she hasn’t noticed improvements in the area.

“I was there last week, and I watched people shoot up on my property. I watched people defecate. It’s bad,” Santillanes says.

She adds that it has been difficult to attract and retain tenants at her property.

“It’s just time that somebody realizes that that’s the gateway to Spokane,” she says. “If we want to continue having tourism in Spokane, we need to look at the long-term effects this is having.”

She says U-Haul's proposal is encouraging, however.

“U-Haul was there at the other space right across the street from us before we were, and they’ve always been good about security,” Santillanes says. “We have nothing but positive things to say about U-Haul.”

The 3 W. Third parcel, which is closest to the Third Avenue and Division Street intersection, was previously the site of an Enterprise Rent-A-Car location. According to county and state records, that parcel is owned by Dicks Hamburgers Inc., which also operates the drive-in restaurant on the southeast corner of Third and Division.