Campus moves to next phase

A partnership made up of two Spokane companies has been picked to develop five acres of land just east of downtown Spokane on the Riverpoint higher education campus.

Northwest Architectural Co. and Goebel Construction make up Riverpoint Plaza LLC, the company Washington State University has selected to develop the land, said Gerald Schlatter, WSU’s executive director of capital planning and development.

“We have a firm we are going forward with to the next phase,” Schlatter said Friday, the deadline for selecting a finalist.

WSU released a request for proposals in November, looking for companies interested in leasing the land for 55 years and developing it. WSU narrowed it to Riverpoint Plaza from four finalists.

The five acres stretches southeast from the intersection of Pine Street and Spokane Falls Boulevard and holds several structures, most notably the six-story Jensen-Byrd building, built in 1909.

State and local historic preservation groups, in addition to the faculty of WSU’s Interdisciplinary Design Institute, have urged WSU to preserve the historic structure as the property is redeveloped.

Bruce Blackmer, president of Northwest Architectural, could not be reached Friday for comment. However, he said in December that his firm would likely remove the Jensen-Byrd building as it proceeded with redevelopment of the property. He said his firm plans to construct about seven buildings, to include retail, office and possibly research space. Housing is also being considered, he said at the time.

He said construction would begin as soon as approval is granted and that his firm already has commitments for 200,000 square feet of commercial space.