Spokane Land Bank, a trade name for Spokane Regional Land Holding Properties LLC, has moved into a new office space and has begun the process to become a 501(c)(3) nonprofit, says executive director Ami Manning.  

At the start of the year, the organization moved into its office space at Niche Coworking on the third floor of the Saranac Building, at 25 W. Main, says Manning who became the executive director for the organization in July, taking the helm from founding director Ben Stuckart.

Stuckart remains the executive director of the Spokane Low Income Housing Consortium, under which the Spokane Land Bank is housed. The Spokane Land Bank previously was working remotely. 

“Becoming our own 501(c)(3) is really important,” says Manning who is currently the organization’s sole employee.

She says Spokane Land Bank plans to branch off from Spokane Low Income Housing Consortium. 

Manning says the process may take six months to 1 1/2 years, depending on whether the organization decides to incorporate independently or merge with the Spokane Community Land Trust, which was established 10 years ago and maintains a board of directors but hasn't been active for some time, she says. 

The Spokane Land Bank was created in 2022 to receive land or abandoned properties. The organization works to help nonprofits purchase the land at a reduced cost from the Spokane Land Bank. In 2023, the organization received a $500,000 grant from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. Those funds are to be used for the assessment and cleanup of brownfield sites—land that is underused or abandoned because of contamination from industrial use in the Northeast, West Central, and East Central areas of Spokane.  

Manning says Spokane Land Bank has since completed five Phase I environmental site assessments, which determine whether a property has been contaminated and will require cleanup. No contamination has been discovered that would trigger a Phase II ESA. The organization is working with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and a contractor on more applications for Phase I ESAs, she says. 

Spokane Land Bank has over $1 million in assets and is receiving its third property, located at 1805 E. Pacific, from Spear Ministries. The property, which is valued at about $230,000, will be sold to Spokane Land Bank at a reduced price, she says. 

The organization also has partnered with Church Land Development, an organization that works with churches with declining memberships that are looking to shut down their operations. Manning says Church Land Development works  with churches to help them assess whether their properties can have a higher community purpose than selling them on the open market. 

Spokane Land Bank currently is working on writing legislation that would help organizations across the state to work with city and county to bring in tax-delinquent properties and repurpose them for affordable housing.