Six months after updated plans were submitted to redevelop the former McKinley School in Spokane's East Central neighborhood, the historic property is being put up for sale. 

A predevelopment conference application filed with the city of Spokane in March calls for a $4.5 million renovation and conversion of the four-story school building, at 120 N. Magnolia, into 29 apartment units and one ground-floor retail space. Rob Brewster, owner of Spokane-based InterUrban Development LLC, is the applicant on file. The application has been placed on hold since April.

"The McKinley property has multiple active code violations and was subject to a substandard building review earlier this year," says Erin Hut, director of communications and marketing for the city of Spokane. "There was a predevelopment conference about the property that the owner coordinated with the city's development services center, but as of now, no permits have been applied for, and there has been no known progress with the condition of the building." 

Andy Butler, commercial real estate broker at Spokane-based Kiemle Hagood, says the property is expected to be listed for sale in October. The asking price is about $3 million, he says.

The historic property is owned by McKinley School LLC, a company governed by Brewster. The 2.5-acre site was purchased in 2020 for $950,000, according to tax information on file with the Washington State Department of Revenue.

Brewster could not be reached for comment.

In addition to the proposed renovation to the existing building, site plans filed in March also show three to four proposed new buildings and other site work.

Spokane-based Trek Architecture produced preliminary site plans for an earlier iteration of the development. Evan Verduin, co-owner and principal of Trek Architecture, says he was unaware that a new predevelopment application had been submitted, adding that given the rising cost of construction materials, he doesn't believe the project is being pursued.

“It’s par for the course,” he says of the redevelopment progress.

Site plans show three possible configurations of new multifamily housing buildings to accompany the revamped McKinley School building. They show options for between 192 and 288 residential units across three to four multistory structures. Parking for each configuration ranges from 75 to 99 spaces. Zoning provisions regarding parking requirements indicate a maximum of four stalls for a 1,000-square-foot area, as shown on site plans.

The latest proposed overhaul of the McKinley School has been whittled down considerably compared with earlier versions. In 2021, the Journal reported plans for a $4 million redevelopment of the existing school structure into a mixed-use project featuring residential, office, and restaurant space. Residences were planned to be a mix of studio and two-bedroom apartments, ranging in size from just under 300 square feet to over 980 square feet. 

Design plans also included 500 square feet of meeting space and 3,500 square feet of common space combined on the first and second floors. The ground floor amenities including a beer hall, a cocktail bar, a pizza restaurant, a coffee bar, and a taco bar also were envisioned.

A year later, a second phase of development, valued at $12 million, was unveiled. Those plans called for 200 units to be constructed across three buildings. The first building was a proposed five-story, 48,300-square-foot mixed-use apartment structure with commercial space on the ground floor and 88 residential units in the upper floors. The second building was a proposed four-story structure comprised of 88 units, and the third building called for three stories and 24 residential units across two floors with 7,600 square feet of commercial space on the ground floor. 

In 2023, which was the last time the Journal caught up with InterUrban, site plans and construction value for the project’s second phase of development changed once again. In the 2023 iteration, design plans called for construction of three mixed-use buildings with a total of 169 residential units. The new construction value for the three buildings was an estimated $33.8 million.

However, the project was facing headwinds, including potentially higher city fees, rising financing costs, and inflation that threatened to stall the development further. At the time, leaders at InterUrban explained they were waiting for clarity from the city over ambiguity concerning impact fees.

InterUrban Development is a real estate development and advisory company that focuses on historic preservation, adaptive reuse, and mixed-use urban projects. Its offices are located in the historic Patsy Clark Mansion, at 2208 W. Second, in Spokane's Browne’s Addition neighborhood. In 2020, Spokane investment group Patsy Clark LLC purchased the 130-year-old historic property for $1.75 million, according to Spokane County Assessor’s Office records. Steven DeWalt, a principal with InterUrban, is listed as the governing agent for Patsy Clark LLC. 

The McKinley School is one of several projects in the region proposed for redevelopment by Brewster. The structure was built in 1902 in a neo-classical style of architecture popular for American public schools during the early 20th century. The school experienced a period of growth for several decades before declining enrollment led to the its closure in 1962, according to the Spokane Historic Preservation Office.