A Spokane-based real estate development company is partnering with Diamond Parking Services LLC to convert underused parking lots into residential housing.

Urbin Developments LLC, which is co-owned by Chris Batten, of RenCorp Realty; Chris Olson, of Olson Projects PLLC; and Tim Short, of RenCorp Building Services, plans to begin construction on two vacant lots in spring 2026.

Linc Lofts, an urban infill project, will be built on a vacant parking lot at 714 N. Monroe. The lot, which Batten says was purchased from development partner Diamond Parking, sits in an alley between Lincoln and Monroe streets, just one block west of the Kendall Yards neighborhood.

The proposed three-story, 22-unit wood-framed building will consist of studio apartments ranging between 380 and 580 square feet. As previously reported in the Journal, the estimated project cost is $4 million.

Developers are leveraging the city's Pavement to People tax incentive for the Linc Lofts project.

“Without the (Pavement to People) incentive, we wouldn’t have been able to do it,” says Batten. “There’s no sales tax on the project, which … makes the projects start to make sense and then start to work.”

Pavement to People is an ordinance passed by the Spokane City Council in 2022. It allows developers to forgo paying sales tax on construction costs if at least 50% of the units in a project are designated as affordable to low-income or moderately low-income residents for a period of 10 years.

The Broadway Apartments, a separate development that will utilize vacant land for housing, is planned at 1324 W. Broadway, at the corner of Broadway Avenue and Cedar Street. The 13,600-square foot, three-story building will provide 18 units, including studios, one-bedroom, and two-bedroom apartments.

New construction permits filed with the city of Spokane show an esimated cost of $3.25 million for the Broadway Apartments project. The land is being developed through a partnership between Batten, who owns the land, and Diamond Parking, as a development partner, and also will make use of the Pavement to People tax incentive.

Batten says his company aims to build 200 to 250 new housing units in downtown Spokane over the next three to five years, with 130 units currently in various stages of development, and will potentially include additional partnerships with Diamond.

"Diamond is a great partner for us, and they're more than willing to participate in some of these redevelopment projects, if it makes sense," Batten says. "We've got several other lots with Diamond that ... we've talked about maybe developing down the road."

Batten, who also chairs the Downtown Spokane Partnership’s City Housing Advisory Committee, emphasized the broader context of these efforts.

“This is just part of the larger story,” he says. “(Spokane is) looking for some affordability for that workforce housing population. We already have a disproportionate amount of very low- and extremely low-income housing downtown, and what we really need is the workforce population … between 80% and 120% area median income. We need to figure out how to build to that low- or moderately low-income level.”

He adds that Downtown Spokane Partnership is preparing to release a comprehensive housing study — referred to as the Housing Action Plan — in September, which will serve as a roadmap for the city’s housing future.

“We’ve been working on it for about four to five months and it’s pretty comprehensive,” he says. “I think it’s going to give us direction moving forward.”

Emilie Cameron, president and CEO of Downtown Spokane Partnership, confirmed that the study will be released on Sept. 8.

“The purpose of the study was to look at what we need in order to achieve a healthier mix … by evaluating peer cities,” Cameron says. “It was to look at the best practices in peer cities and who’s adding housing and where should Spokane be in order to reach a healthier mix of housing inventory in downtown, because mixed income neighborhoods are really important, especially in a downtown environment.” 

Cameron also notes how the COVID-19 pandemic exposed vulnerabilities in downtown residential populations. 

While withholding specific details until its September release, Cameron explains that the study found cities with strong downtown residential populations weathered the pandemic more effectively — and bounced back faster.

“During COVID, lots of downtowns, including downtown Spokane, saw firsthand how important it is to have an activated city at all times of the day,” Cameron says. “Cities who had a strong residential base really … entered recovery mode much faster than their counterparts.” 

While careful not to disclose specific figures ahead of the study’s release, Cameron shares that downtown Spokane could easily accommodate several thousand new housing units. The city, however, currently lacks enough “middle-rung” housing — units for professionals and service workers who fall between affordable housing and luxury condos.

The study estimates that downtown is in need of 3,200 new market-rate units to reach a healthy mix.

“We could easily, from a density standpoint, … bring on 6,000 new units,” Cameron says. 

Although the study wasn’t focused on parking lot conversions, she notes that it identified those properties as a valuable tool to boost housing. 

“We’ve now got to ask ourselves, ‘What else needs to be done in order to spur development?'” Cameron says. “Sometimes the question comes up, ‘Should there be penalties for not developing?’ That is always … easier said than done. What we want is to spur development … because the market wants development. People will develop with conditions.”

This, she says, is where the Pavement to People program plays a key role.

“Development is incredibly complex and incredibly expensive,” Cameron says, citing inflated construction costs, high interest rates, and supply chain disruptions. That’s why incentives like Spokane’s Pavement to People programs are essential, she adds.

“Incentives help to spur development,” Cameron asserts.

Ultimately, converting parking lots to housing isn’t about penalizing property owners — it’s about creating the right conditions.

“If the numbers work, people will build,” she says. 

Although Batten suggests that reducing the 50% affordable housing requirement to between 25% and 30% could make more projects viable, he says the program is a promising start to boost housing downtown.

“When you figure out how many total number of units we really need downtown, this is only a fraction,” Batten says of Urbin Development's housing projects. “But this is our part of the solution.”