Spokane-based GVD Commercial Properties Inc. says it intends this spring to demolish the former Discovery School building at 307 W. Fourth near downtown. It has no immediate plans for the property, but says it expects to develop a commercial project there eventually.

GVD's application to raze the two-story, 32,000-square-foot building, which is located just south of Interstate 90 and is visible from the freeway, is under review by the city's building services division.

The commercial real estate development company bought the structure and the half-acre of land it occupies from Spokane Housing Ventures, a nonprofit low-income-housing advocate, early last year. Ryan Goodell, GVD's vice president, says the vacant structure has been subject to graffiti and vandalism, and tearing it down "would relieve a headache."

Because the structure has more than 12,000 square feet of floor space, the demolition plans are subject to regulatory review under provisions of the State Environmental Policy Act. The act requires state and local agencies to consider whether such a proposal would cause significant harm to the environment.

The structure, originally named the Westminster Cowley Youth Building, was erected in 1958 by what today is the Westminster Congregational United Church of Christ, which is based in a 118-year-old stonemasonry structure located on the same city block, at 411 S. Washington.

The Cowley building has housed several nonprofit groups, and the church's website says its last tenant was the Discovery School, a private nonsectarian elementary school that moved about nine blocks east, to 323 S. Grant, in 2004.

The church sold the Cowley building and other properties to Spokane Housing Ventures in 2005.

The Spokane County Assessor's records list the building's value at $184,200, and the land value at $451,500.