Spokane developer Mick McDowell is asking the city of Spokane to rescind a real estate deal involving downtown land a company he heads agreed to buy in 2008.

The land is located east of the Spokane Fire Department Station No. 1, which is along Riverside Avenue between Division and Browne streets.

McDowell says, however, he wants the company, 24 West Riverside LLC, to retain an exclusive option to buy the property again should economic conditions change so that he can proceed with plans to develop a high-rise office building there.

The property at issue, which consists of two lots totaling 17,750 square feet, is located between Fire Station No. 1 and two other lots McDowell and his wife Shelley own at the northwest corner of Division and Riverside Avenue.

McDowell's company paid the city a $150,000 down payment and signed a promissory note due early next year for $543,156. McDowell is asking the city to return the down payment and forgive the note.

The City Council will take up a proposed agreement on the matter as outlined by Fire Chief Bobby Williams during its Oct. 3 meeting, says city spokeswoman Marlene Feist.

McDowell first proposed several years ago to erect an 11-story, $60 million structure, tentatively called the Gateway Building, on the property. It was envisioned to include 18,000 square feet of restaurant and retail space on the main floor, four floors of parking, and 152,000 square feet of office space on the upper six floors.

Those plans have been stalled by the recession and resulting tightened credit market, he says.

McDowell says he still envisions developing such a project if conditions improve.

"The ultimate scope will be determined by the user and the economy," he says. "I have little control over that."

In addition to maintaining the option to buy the land again, McDowell also is asking for the first right to buy a roughly 5,200-square-foot strip of land next to the fire station that's used for its 24-hour personnel parking.

As part of the proposed agreement, McDowell says he would convey to the city, office condominium space and parking considerations valued at roughly $2 million, if he proceeds with the office project.

Conversely, the city would have the option to buy the McDowell's lots at Division and Riverside, subject to an agreed-upon appraisal process, if the project doesn't move forward.

"This agreement provides the maximum flexibility for both sides," McDowell says.

Chief Williams' outline of the agreement says the city would determine what type of space it desires. For example, it could choose roughly 6,700 square feet of Class A office space and 60 covered parking spaces for fire department and public parking.

The agreement would expire in seven years if no development occurs.

Separately, McDowell also has long proposed to develop a 17-story condo tower, to be called Riverview on Riverside, at Riverside and Cedar Street west of downtown.

That project was envisioned to include 52 residential condominium units and about 170,000 square feet of floor space, and the project costs were estimated in 2007 at $35 million.

Although McDowell says the Riverside at Riverview project has nothing to do with the property near the fire station, both are on hold because of similar circumstances: "The economy is in the tank, and nobody wants to lend me any money."

Prior to the recession, another McDowell-led development company built the five-story, $10 million AmericanWest Bank Building, at 41 W. Riverside, near the envisioned Gateway Building project.