The Joe E. Mann Hall Army Reserve Center property in Hillyard might not be destined for public auction after all, as advocates for development—potentially of a workforce development and manufacturing incubator operation there—restart talks with the U.S. Army.

The Army announced last month that it rejected all proposals for redevelopment of the property at 4415 N. Market, which includes a 27,000-square-foot main building, a 10,000-square-foot shop building, and nearly 6 acres of land.

Spokane City Council President Ben Stuckart says, however, that after the City Council issued a press release expressing its frustration with the decision and U.S. Sen. Marie Cantwell's office inquired about the decision, the Army has said it would be open to a government-to-government transfer of the property. Specifically, the Army would transfer the property to the U.S. Bureau of Indian Affairs and allow the Spokane Tribe of Indians to hold it in trust for community development. That transfer, Stuckart says, could take up to two years to complete.

"The whole process is frustrating," Stuckart says. "When they get pressure, they say, 'Yeah, we could do that. It would just be a lot of work.'"

He adds, "They don't want to do it, but they could do it. I think if we push hard enough, they will."

Stuckart says, however, his contacts at the U.S. Department of Defense have been difficult to reach since the federal shutdown, so he's unsure when he'll have a clear idea of whether a federal agency-to-federal agency land transfer will move forward.

The destiny of the Mann Center has been up in the air since 2005, when as part of a Base Closure and Realignment Commission, the U.S. Department of Defense decided to build a new Armed Forces Reserve Center at Fairchild Air Force Base. The Mann Center operations moved to the base in 2010, and the complex in Hillyard has sat vacant since then.

Spokane Public Schools had been awarded the building in 2010. Last February, however, while the district was waiting for the Army to transfer ownership of the property to the U.S. Department of Education in a transfer similar to the one proposed with BIA, the district told the Army it no longer was interested in a transfer of the Mann Center after thieves and vandals caused extensive damage to the building.

After that, the city began working as what's called a local redevelopment authority and came up with proposals for the site. During that time, the city paid for site security.

The Army's decision to reject the city's proposals came as a shock, Stuckart says, and came with no explanation.

J.R. Sloan, co-owner of J. Sloan Enterprises Inc. who has offered pro-bono consulting to northeast Spokane neighborhoods for the past 10 years, says he and others in the community envision developing a workforce development center and a manufacturing company incubation center at the former reserve center. He says such a center could teach job skills to people in the nearby low-income neighborhoods. Also, he points out, the Spokane Tribe, which had committed up to $1.2 million to redevelopment of the property it would hold in trust, could send its members to learn jobs skills at such a facility.

"We have lots of young people who are unemployed or underemployed," Sloan says. "All of the people who don't have jobs should be able to get good manufacturing jobs if they are so inclined."

Stuckart and Sloan both say the Army has emphasized repeatedly that it would prefer to sell the property outright and has asked the city to buy it at fair market value.

The Army, however, hasn't set an auction date.

Sloan says the best use for the site will be one that uses the existing buildings. The structures, he says, were constructed during the Cold War era and are built to sustain bomb blasts. He says demolition cost estimates have come in at about $1.8 million.

"It's virtually bulletproof," Sloan says. "Estimates for demolition are ridiculous."

He says some people in the Hillyard area are in favor of allowing a private developer to acquire the site through auction so that it could be torn down to make way for a commercial retail center. He says advocates for such a plan would like to see another supermarket in the neighborhood, but he opposes that option.

"The fact is an auction is a short-term event with short-term decisions that in the long run likely will adversely affect the community," he says.

Stuckart says he's meeting with member of the Spokane Tribe and others to confirm they are still interested in a project at Mann Center.

"The parties are mulling pushing it forward," he says. "I have to get everybody 100 percent invested before I can take on the federal government."