Spokane developer Ron Wells says he has fresh financing and strong local and state support to convert the shuttered Ridpath Hotel into a downtown housing complex, but he’s bracing for another two-year delay in getting the project started.

“We have a renewed offer for all the tax-credit equity we need and financing with a better rate of interest than before,” Wells says.

He claims, though, that the owner of key parcels in the Ridpath tower is gaming U.S. Bankruptcy Court actions in part to delay property tax foreclosure and prevent the forced sale of the last contested portions of the property.

As of earlier this week, the Las Vegas-based owner of the tower parcels, 515 Spokane Partners LLC, which has filed for protection from creditors in U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Nevada, owed Spokane County property taxes totaling $543,715, dating back to 2009.

Wells expressed some frustration that Spokane County hasn’t foreclosed on the property.

Mike Volz, chief deputy treasurer for the county, says the property owner is protected from property tax foreclosure while the bankruptcy case is active.

“Theoretically, we could pursue action, but that would involve contracting with a lawyer in Nevada,” Volz says. “We haven’t done that before, and we’re not interested in doing that.”

He says the bankruptcy action doesn’t preclude a private sale of the property.

When the property does change hands, the county will be first in line to collect back taxes from the proceeds.

“Property taxes have to be paid through that exchange,” Volz says. “In my previous experience, both the state and the IRS took a second seat to us.”

The hotel complex, which is at 515 W. Sprague, with frontage on both Sprague and First avenues, had been divided into about two dozen parcels before and since the Ridpath closed in 2008.

A Wells-affiliated investment company, Ridpath Penthouse LLC, and other affiliates have acquired 16 Ridpath parcels, including the top two floors of the 13-story hotel tower, which the developer is converting to luxury condominiums, and all of the hotel’s street-front commercial space.

Wells has long proposed to redevelop the hotel rooms in 10 stories of the tower into the Ridpath Club Apartments, which would include 200 mostly low-income units ranging in size from 250-square-foot micro apartments to 1,000-square-foot, one-bedroom apartments.

He had previously estimated the project cost at nearly $18 million.

While Ridpath Penthouse has yet to obtain two parcels that include most of the hotel rooms in the tower, Wells says his interests control the majority of the voting rights for the Ridpath complex and will use those votes to change the use of the hotel rooms into apartments.

A competing group led by Spokane developer Ivan Kriger wants to acquire and reopen the Ridpath as a hotel, although Wells says it would be difficult for a competing party to obtain financing if it doesn’t control the use of the property.

Wells has garnered the favor of the City Council to redevelop the Ridpath as a downtown housing project, as opposed to reopening it as a hotel.

“The Council’s 5-1 vote to support one project against another is an affirmation we’re doing the right thing and need to stay the course,” Wells says.

The housing project also has support of the Washington state Housing Finance Commission.

“We have huge support from Olympia and Seattle,” Wells says.

Because of that support, the project also has backing from California-based tax-credit investors.

“A lot of influential people have gone out of their way to support this concept as best for the community,” Wells says.

As recently reported in the Journal, Kriger’s group separately is seeking to acquire the Halliday Building, which is at the southwest corner of Sprague Avenue and Stevens Street, adjacent to the Ridpath.

The group wants to redevelop street level commercial space and expand the two-story Halliday building to five stories with 32 residential condominium units on the floors above the commercial space.

“I’m glad someone would buy and renovate it,” Wells says of the Halliday building. “That’s good for us.”