Change in Browne’s Addition

The owner of several lots in Spokane’s Browne’s Addition neighborhood completed the demolition of two homes this week, making way for the construction of 14 high-end townhouses.

The townhouses, to be built on the corner of Fourth Avenue and Hemlock Street, are replacing a 2,300-square-foot multifamily home, built in 1887, and a smaller ranch-style home, built in the 1950s, title records show.

Construction is due to start on the property in several weeks, according to Bob Cooke, owner of the R.H. Cooke real estate, the company handling marketing for the project. Cooke said the townhouses will be modeled after San Francisco’s row housing units; each two-story unit will be about 1,800 square feet and will include two underground parking spaces, two bedrooms, three bathrooms, a family room, dining room and kitchen. He said prices for the units will start in the lower $300,000 range, with reservations opening at the end of September. The project will be complete by spring, Cooke said.

According to title records, Casey Colley purchased the land in October 2003 for $285,000. Colley also purchased a small home on the west side of the block in April 2004 for $120,000 and at least one unit in an apartment co-op on the block late this week. Cooke, speaking on behalf of Colley, said the townhouse development is a “one-phase project” with no plans to develop the block any further.

Christine White, a member of the Browne’s Addition Neighborhood Association, owns a unit in the co-op Colley recently bought a part of. She said she has fielded concerns from residents who are uneasy about development in the area and was particularly unhappy that Colley removed about a half-dozen old trees on the townhouse lot.

“Everybody’s crying,” she said. “This little corner of the neighborhood is in jeopardy.”

Gary Carlson, a nearby resident who was out looking at the empty lot early Friday, said he was worried the development might cause a spike in property taxes on his rental unit. He said he pays about $380 a month to rent part of the first floor of a five-unit complex that borders the townhouse property.

“I’m very happy here, very happy,” he said. “I just don’t want to be forced out.”